Legends June/July '14

READLEGENDS.COM

•1

CELEBRATING OUR 70th ANNIVERSARY SEASON PRESENTS

Marty Stuart

F E A T U R I N G

AND THE FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES

7 JUNE 2014 • 7:30 P.M. SAENGER THEATER

Mac McAnally PRESENTS

AND MEMBERS OF THE

Coral Reefer Band

14 JUNE 2014 • 7:30 P.M. SAENGER THEATER

GIACOMO PUCCINI’S

OSCA

WickedDivas PRESENTS

21 JUNE 2014 • 7:30 P.M. • SAENGER THEATER STARRING

BROADWAY’S

ELPHABA AND GLINDA

W W W. F E S T I VA L S O U T H . O R G

AN EVENING WITH

WWW.MSOPERA.ORG

D eborah oigt V

THE WORLD’S LEADING DRAMATIC SOPRANO

featuring The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2015, 7:30 P.M. Bennett Auditorium Hattiesburg, Mississippi

TICKETS Available September 2, 2014

AA

/E O

E/

AD AI

800.844.8425 601.266.5418 www.southernmisstickets.com

VICKSBURG The Key to the South

VISIT

THE KEY TO HISTORY

Vicksburg’s key position on the mighty Mississippi River set the stage for one of the most defining episodes in American history: The Siege of Vicksburg in the Civil War. You can relive that history in our museums and tour homes and the Vicksburg National Military Park which has been named the Mississippi Tourism Attraction of the Year.

We’ve got it!

THE KEY TO ENTERTAINMENT

The music of the Mississippi Delta is known around the world. Many venues and festivals throughout the city present live music – blues, country, rock. You’ll want to take the family to see Gold in the Hills which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest continuously running show. We’ve got it!

THE KEY TO SHOPPING Shops along Washington Street are filled with wonderful gift and specialty items that range from fun and funky to fantastically fashionable. You’ll love our antique and consignment shops! Find great deals at the Outlets at Vicksburg and the Vicksburg Mall boasting national retail favorites. We’ve got it!

THE KEY TO DINING

The Vicksburg menu includes Southern and international favorites, steaks and seafood. How about some fried green tomatoes with crabmeat hollandaise sauce, Southern cheese grits or a Cuban BBQ or a bountiful buffet? We’ve got it!

THE KEY TO ADVENTURE With sweeping views of the Mississippi River, Vicksburg perfectly blends Southern culture and heritage with exciting modern-day attractions. Whether it’s nature viewing, fishing, hunting, golfing or picnicking you want, we’ve got it!

Scan this QR to visit our mobile site and get your keys to Vicksburg. www.VisitVicksburg.com

Eric Benét Thursday, June 26, 2014 In music, R&B is his niche and Eric Benét does it well. He has a gold-certified album (“A Day in the Life”) and plenty of hits (“Spend My Life With You” is just one), but the four-time Grammy nominee’s versatility and talent mean you’ll see him – or hear him – in places you might not expect.

In addition to collaborating with many other musicians, he made his acting debut alongside Mariah Carey in “Glitter” and has also appeared in several television shows. Benét is currently slated as host and co-executive producer of an up-and-coming reality show highlighting singers discovered in subways.

For Fans of: Johnny Gill, Carl Thomas, Raheem DeVaughn

The Heart Behind the Music Featuring Deana Carter, Billy Dean, Collin Raye, and Bryan White Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Showcasing some of the world’s best singers and songwriters, “The Heart Behind the Music” tour offers a chance to hear talented musicians talk about the meaning behind their hit songs while also treating ticket holders to outstanding performances. The tour’s Meridian stop includes Deana Carter, fresh off the release of her sixth studio album (“Southern Way of Life”), almost 20 years after her Grammy-nominated and first big hit, “Strawberry Wine.” She is joined by Billy Dean, whose first three albums were certified gold and who may be best known for his songs “Only Here for a Little While” and “If There Hadn’t Been You.” Also along for the ride is country veteran Collin Raye, known for his traditional country hits from the 1990s – “Love, Me,” “Not That Different,” and “In This Life” among them – and his recent successful foray into inspirational music. Taking the stage as well is Bryan White, who counts “I’m Not Supposed to Love You Anymore” and “So Much for Pretending” among his collection of number one country singles.

For Fans of: Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Trace Adkins MSU Riley Center Box Office | 2200 Fifth Street | Meridian, MS 39301 Facebook.com/RileyCenter 601.696.2200 | www.msurileycenter.com

PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd CREATIVE DIRECTOR / LEAD DESIGNER ���������������������� Shawn T. King WEBSITE DESIGNER ���������������������������Sally Durkin ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER ������������������������������Kim Glicco ADVERTISING SALES Cindy Thompson, Director of Sales Jackson, Hattiesburg, Meridian, Vicksburg - 601-479-6202 Cindy@ReadLegends.com Carol Ann Riley - Natchez, Louisiana - 601-431-8000 CarolAnn@ReadLegends.com

CONTENTS JUNE / JULY 2014

MUSIC 12

The Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival

50

Mississippi’s Best Fests

Marketing - 601-479-3351 Ken@ReadLegends.com Editorial - 601-604-2963 Editor@ReadLegends.com Contributing writers: Chris Staudinger, Kara Martinez Bachman, Stephen Corbett, Riley Manning

From Ziggy Marley to Joe Louis Walker, this year’s lineup rocks From “haute cuisine” to the chicken wing, our favorite picks

FEATURES 6

Lofty Views in the River City

Posh condos infuse new life into downtown

18

The Art of Giving

24

Eight Seconds to Glory

Copyright 2014. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted without express permission from the publisher. The opinions and views expressed by our contributors, writers and editors are their own. Various views from other professionals may also be expressed. Neither LEGENDS nor Blue South Publishing Corporation is endorsing or guaranteeing the products or quality of services expressed in advertisements. All advertisers assume liability for all content (including text representation and illustration) of advertisements printed and assume responsibility for any resulting claims against LEGENDS or its affiliates. Materials, photographs and written pieces to be considered for inclusion in LEGENDS may be sent to P.O. Box 3663, Meridian, MS 39303. Unsolicited materials will not be returned. LEGENDS is sold on bookstore shelves from New Orleans to Chicago and Austin to Atlanta.

Additionally, Blue South Publishing Corporation provides 12,000 free copies in its coverage area to tourism offices, welcome centers, hotels, restaurants, theaters, museums, galleries, coffee shops, casinos and institutions of higher learning. If your business, agency or industry would like to be considered as a LEGENDS distribution point, or for a list of retailers, please contact us at Editor@MississippiLegends.com.

32

Where Flowers Healed a Nation

36

Murder in Mississippi

39

Louisiana Swamp Tours

45

Under a Bright Blue Sky

For more information, write to Editor@MississippiLegends.com. More information, including a comprehensive, up-to-date calendar, may be found at www.ReadLegends.com

54

Contributing photographers: Chuck Cook, James Edward Bates, Michael Barrett, Ken Flynt LEGENDS welcomes your calendar submissions. Submissions are posted free of charge on our website at www.ReadLegends.com. Calendar submissions for consideration in LEGENDS’ print calendar may be sent to Kim@ReadLegends.com.

Ballet Mississippi

Thousands pack the bleachers for the Angola Prison Rodeo Columbus’ sweet homecoming

The darker side of artist Norman Rockwell Get the grit on Louisiana’s real ecological challenge Join Mississippi’s real queens — the Biloxi Schooners

CULINARY From the Sea to the Sound

The gourmet flavors of Ocean Spring’s Phoenicia

ABOUT OUR COVERS The Weeping Angel in Friendship Cemetery, Columbus, Miss., is a stop on the city’s yearly pilgrimage. The cemetery, founded in 1849, also contains the remains of Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Battle of Shiloh. It has been called “Where Flowers Healed a Nation,” because in 1866, a group of women decorated the soldiers’ graves with flowers, creating the country’s first Memorial Day. -Photograph by Marianne Todd/Legends

Created for the blues lovers of The Mississippi Picnic in New York City, the cover pays homage to Mr. B.B. King, who has returned to his hometown of Indianola, Miss., each year for a homecoming performance.

This year marks King’s final homecoming to the small Mississippi town, where King once worked in the cotton gin that is now home to his famous B.B. King Museum.

-Photograph by Ken Flynt/Legends

6 • JUNE // JULY 2014

2014 - QT PAGE LEGENDS - AHC NEW LEAF_Layout 1 12/23/13 12:30 PM Page

ADDICTION CRISIS? WE CAN HELP.

Expert, flexible treatment options…

36

18

12

New Leaf Recovery at Alliance Health Center provides hope, healing and recovery in a private, home-like setting for men and women. New Leaf Recovery is flexible, so you can maintain your life while healing.

• Intensive Outpatient Therapy is offered three days a week — Monday, Tuesday & Thursday in the evenings • Partial Hospitalization Therapy is offered seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. — with lodging available New Leaf Recovery accepts Medicare, private insurance and private pay.

Hope • Healing • Recovery

54

24

ARE YOU IN CRISIS?

5000 Hwy. 39 North • Meridian, MS 39301 601.483.6211 • 1.877.853.3094 www.alliancehealthcenter.com Assessments/Admissions available 24 hours a day/7 days a week

CALL 877.853.3094

Home to blues legends like Kenny Brown, Joe Callicott, Memphis Minnie, Don McMinn and more, the blues have deep roots here in DeSoto County.

Come catch a live show or travel back in time along our historic Blues Trail.

For a free vacation guide, call 662-393-8770 or visit SoDeSoto.com.

Blues Trail

Museum

Great Venues

Shopping

In Northwest Mississippi, minutes from Memphis and Tunica.

With 38 hotels, 7 B+B’s, 250+ restaurants and lots of fun activities, a great time is just a phone call away.

SOULFUL!

DeSoto County, Mississippi H E R N A N D O · H O R N L A K E · OLIVE BRANCH · SOUTHAVEN · WALLS

READLEGENDS.COM

•7

STORY FROM VICKSBURG, MISS.

The Lofts at First National offer high ceilings, natural wood, top-of-the-line appliances and spectacular river views.

8 • JUNE // JULY 2014

LOFTY VIEWS IN THE

RIVER CITY Vicksburg’s posh new digs offers sights of the Mississippi River, Louisiana Delta Point, Yazoo Canal and Centennial Lake

BY KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL BARRETT Tim Cantwell imagined people standing on the top of his building, pointing through the night sky, observing the lights and the darkness surrounding the Mississippi River.

They would be cradling their cocktails. Laughing. Showing each other points of interest, parts of history. He imagined them looking down on all of Vicksburg, at the hopeful changes he had a hand in creating.

“There is no place to have that kind of observation, anywhere,” Cantwell says, of the rooftop view from his luxury apartment building at the corner of Washington and Clay streets. At press time, the building was scheduled to be opened during summer under the name The Lofts at First National.

Each of Cantwell’s 55 apartments have high ceilings, natural wood, topof-the-line appliances and a view to write home about. Amenities include private, secure parking and entrance, lobby and board room use and workout facility. While Trustmark Bank will continue to occupy offices on the READLEGENDS.COM

•9

 Jonathan Abogado, bartender at The Wine House, which offers “lite bites” and a wine list of “twenty white and twenty reds, all hand-picked.”

first two floors, levels three through ten hold the luxury lofts.

On top of the building, a restaurant named 10 South Rooftop Bar and Grill, operated by local restaurateur Jay Parmegiani, will serve Southerninspired cuisine and will give diners panoramic open-air dining amid views of the Mississippi River, Louisiana Delta Point, Yazoo Canal and Centennial Lake.

Cantwell hopes the renovation of this historic structure, originally built as the First National Bank of Vicksburg, will help bring more action downtown.

“It’s a substantial rehab of a 1905 historic building that was, when it was built, the tallest building in the state of Mississippi,” he said.

The developer not only understands the impact his properties can have on the people who live in them, but how this type of rehab can benefit an entire community … an entire economy.

“There is no way that it won’t have a big impact on bringing people downtown and encouraging them to linger,” Cantwell said. “What I know is that downtown will have a lot more activity.”

The real estate developer has seen how his own projects have brought activity to areas that needed new life. He said he was instrumental during the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s in residential projects that brought people back

into downtowns in his home state of California. He’s created housing for veterans in six states. He’s created residential living in places like Las Vegas, where he’s renovating 115 units, and Houston, where he’s got 100. In addition to the new lofts, Cantwell’s company owns several other properties in Vicksburg as well, including the renovated Bienville Apartments and the 132-unit Park Residences.

This type of rehab is just a start; the rest follows, by Cantwell or other developers like him, as the services that will meet the needs of an increasing downtown population come into play.

Another believer in Vicksburg is Daryl Hollingsworth. Unlike Cantwell, Hollingsworth is a Mississippian investing in his own home state. He grew up in the Delta, but moved to Vicksburg in 1984.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place. It’s too beautiful to let it deteriorate.”

The company Hollingsworth co-owns, Live! Work! Play! Downtown Vicksburg, has recently completed 17 apartments, consisting of ten residential units and seven extended-stay rentals in the 1400 block of Washington St. Included in the complex of three renovated late-1800s brick buildings is a new wine bar, The Wine House. With the bar opened and the last of

“There is no way that it won’t have a big impact on bringing people downtown and encouraging them to linger.”

10 • JUNE // JULY 2014

the apartment units getting their finishing touches with a courtyard, fireplaces, stainless steel appliances, hardwood and cork floors, exposed brick walls and in-unit washers and dryers, Hollingsworth said he’s moving on to his next rehab project, which will hopefully begin the domino effect of new service providers coming into downtown.

“We bought the old Corner Medical property,” he said, of another structure on Washington Street. “We want to put seven apartments there and a grocery store.” He said the grocery will be small, but will begin to meet some needs of a walkable community.

“My goal is to get 2,000 people living downtown,” said Hollingsworth. “Once we reach that number, we think it will become its own community.”

Hollingsworth said a group is renovating a building to house a theater, and others are attempting to secure grants to build a farmer’s market pavilion. He said he sees a recent uptick in interest downtown. He hopes The Wine House, which offers “lite bites,” a full bar and a wine list of “twenty whites and twenty reds, all hand-picked” will add to what may be a small, but emerging renaissance for the city.

Vicksburg Main Street Executive Director Kim Hopkins understands what the presence of developers like Cantwell and Hollingsworth can mean.

“Vicksburg is more than a small town, we are an incubator for business and an example of why you should invest downtown,” explained Hopkins. “If you look at the increase of residents in our downtown area, the need for amenities increase and investors see an opportunity to make a wise move into our downtown spaces by developing them into wine bars, bakeries, restaurants and so much more.”

Cantwell has his own vision for Vicksburg’s downtown.

“We need a top-of-the-line boutique hotel,” he said, hinting this is something he may consider taking on as a rehab project. “We have several properties we would consider under the right circumstances … and there’s a set of other adaptive re-uses for some of the other buildings.

“I hope we can make the river more accessible. You have to have a big ole four-wheel drive truck and a big ole trailer,” he said, if you want to access boating ramps. “That [improving access] would be a huge change for someone with a yacht going up and down the river.

They can’t dock here.”

As for doing their part, the powers-that-be claim to be paving the way for projects like those of Cantwell and Hollingsworth.

“Main Street -- along with the Architectural Review Board, the Foundation for Historic Preservation and the mayor and alderman – has helped preserve the city’s rich history while effortlessly bringing in progress to ensure the downtown area’s future,” Hopkins said.

“People love the idea of visiting and living in our downtown, but our downtown is a bit different,” said Hopkins. “It is steeped in history, it has stood the test of time, but is a developed business district

The

BLUES and HOME COOKIN’ It’s like

MISSISSIPPI 101 Walnut Hills Restaurant is the one place you MUST eat during your visit to Vicksburg!

World famous food, live blues, and Southern charm!

1214 Adams Street, Vicksburg • 601-638-4910

www.WALNUTHILLSMS.com READLEGENDS.COM

• 11

and has an established arts and culture base. There is always something to do downtown and as our buildings are being developed and growing, investors are excited to buy in to what our community has to offer.”

It seems Cantwell may have emotionally “bought in” decades ago, when the Californian would come here as a youth.

“I’m only in Mississippi at all because of my formative years,” he said. “I spent summers in Jackson with my grandparents, 12 years of summers.”

He said his first visit to Vicksburg came on a fishing trip with his grandfather. Later, as an adult, he had business to do in the old First National Bank of Vicksburg building, so he’s known of it for decades.

“This has been a ‘personal’ investment since ‘78,” Cantwell said. He simply had to wait for the right opportunity … which seems to be now.

If Cantwell and Hollingsworth have anything to do with it, the future is looking brighter for this river city.

Hollingsworth lamented that just two years ago, so many of the old buildings were deteriorating. Now, a few developers may just be the forward-pointing iceberg tip.

“I’ve seen what can happen when you begin to bring people back living downtown,” said Cantwell.

If this happens, then the wishes of fellow developer, Hollingsworth, may very well take shape, transforming this old beauty of a town into a walkable, vibrant, selfsufficient neighborhood.

“We’re trying to build a community,” he said. “We’re trying to build a village.” L WANT TO KNOW MORE? The Wine House: Serving fine wines, spirits and “lite bites,” in an upscale New York atmosphere, 1408 Washington St., Vicksburg. For more information phone (601) 415-5549, email VicksburgWineHouse@gmail.com or like their page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/VicksburgWineHouse.

The Lofts at First National: For leasing information, contact Newbreak Management, (601) 638-8888.

Live! Work! Play!: For leasing information, contact Mary Jane at (601) 618-0010.  Top: Jonathan Abogado serves a Black House Chardonay which he says has a clean, crispy taste with a tropical fruit flavor.

Bottom: Walter Osborne Jr., seated, is served dinner by Daryl Hollingsworth, right, while Abogado fills his glass with Hall Cabernet Sauvignon.

12 • JUNE // JULY 2014

n o s n h o J t r e Rob ND LEGACY TOUR LIFE A

He lived twenty-seven years, recorded twenty-nine songs, and changed music forever.

Scan here for our FREE self-guided tour map.

time

visitgreenwood.com

662-453-9197 • 1-800-748-9064 Image of Robert Johnson derived from the photo booth self-portrait © 1986 Delta Haze Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 13

STORY FROM JACKSON, MISS.

By Stephen Corbett

JACKSON IS THE CENTER OF THE SOUTH, SAYS BOBBY RUSH. “It’s got a little this, a little that, and a little other,” says Rush, who has called Jackson, Miss., his home for decades. “Chicago, Memphis, the Delta, Philadelphia, New Orleans – they all got a scene, ya follow me. And I’ve been part of all of ‘em. Jackson has ‘em all in one place.”

One look at the line-up of the 2014 Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival proves Bobby Rush knows exactly what he’s talking about. The artists run the gamut from raw Hill Country Blues to New Jack Swing to Reggae.

The festival, scheduled for August 15 and 16, is only in its second year, but if the line-up is any indication, it is already proving to be one of the biggest music festivals in the Southeast.

“Jackson has been a hub of blues and soul for many years,” says Alex Thomas, festival coordinator. “When the blues trail project was started, Jackson had the most trail markers. It made sense to make a festival here to give people another reason to come to Jackson.”

Thomas echoes Rush’s sentiments. “Jackson is more than just the blues. R&B is very prevalent. Our goal was to bring artists outside of the blues – from jazz, R&B and reggae – that are big names but aren’t from Jack-

14 • JUNE // JULY 2014

son, while still bringing in the artists who have made Jackson the hot-bed that it is.”

Rush played the Jackson Rhythm and Blues Festival in 2013 and is excited to be a repeat performer. Since last year’s appearance, he has

READLEGENDS.COM

• 15

 From left, Fantasia, Curtis Salgado (photo credit Paul Natkin) and Ziggy Marley, are all scheduled to perform along with a host of other artists that reflect what Jackson blues music has become.

been nominated for a Grammy for his album, “Down in Louisiana,” and has released a new album called “Decisions” with Dr. John and Blinddog Smokin’. The Louisiana native is a Mississippi Governor’s Arts Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and has his own Blues Trail marker in Jackson.

His new single “Another Murder in New Orleans” shows a different side of the King of the Chitlin’ Circuit, who is most well-known for more upbeat songs like “Chicken Heads” and “I Ain’t Studdin’ You.” “There is more than one side to Bobby Rush,” he explains. “I have grandchildren and great grandchildren, and I wanted to shine a light on juvenile crime. It isn’t about New Orleans. Wherever you are from is your New Orleans. Some people think it’s dangerous to speak out about this stuff, but to not speak out is dangerous also.

We all need to stop zippin’ our lips and take responsibility.”

Despite the gravity of his new single, concert goers can expect to also hear a lot of the more party oriented songs for which Rush is famous.

“I put butts into seats, man. And when I start playing, I take the butts back out of the seats,” he laughs.

Hattiesburg, Miss., native Johnny Rawls is another legend scheduled to grace one of the Festival’s five stages.

“What makes Jackson so special is the way different groups of music became one music,” says Rawls, who has made a career mixing the blues with other genres to form his own signature sound. “Jackson blues was a

little bit slicker. It had more of a soul and R&B feel to it – a real gospel feel. Soul-Blues is what I call it.”

Rawls, who also has been immortalized with a trail marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail, has played guitar for legends including Z.Z. Hill, Joe Tex, Bobby Bland and O.V. Wright. Rawls plays stinging leads and a funky rhythm, but despite his having been in demand as a guitarist, Rawls has never been one to show off with his instrument.

“I ain’t got no technique, man. I slap that shit on and go with the flow.

My emphasis has always been on the song – not the guitar. I mean, I can play, now. When I want to, I can get down and play. But I take more pride in my songwriting. I want to be known as a great songwriter, and not just an idiot who plays a guitar solo for two hours with lightning speed.”

“I played Bluesapalooza with Bobby Rush – and he is all of that and a bag of chips,” laughs Detroit native Janiva Magness. “But this is my first actual time playing in Jackson.”

Magness is an artist whose life epitomizes the blues. She lost both of her parents at an early age and lived in several foster homes before reaching adulthood. The pain and hardships of her childhood come through in her voice, whether she is singing songs written by herself or others.

“My history infuses my craft,” she says. “If I can’t take my experience and use it, then what was the purpose of it. It doesn’t make any sense otherwise.”

Magness’s upcoming album, Original, conveys both a sense of pain

“I put butts into seats, man. And when I start playing, I take the butts back out of the seats...”

– Bobby Rush

16 • JUNE // JULY 2014

and the triumph of overcoming obstacles in a soulful blues sound rooted in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Much like the city hosting the event, her music knows few boundaries.

“I was like a myna bird as a kid,” she says. “I could sing every TV theme song, every Tex Ritter song, Nat King Cole, Patsy Cline – you name it. I was the young girl obsessed with radio and records sitting in her room while people were yelling, ‘Turn that shit down!’ Music has just always been the thing for me.”

She heard the blues calling during her teen years, when she witnessed live performances by B.B. King and Otis Rush. Forty years later, she still recalls those events with the enthusiasm of someone witnessing them for the first time.

“I saw B.B. King when I was 14 – in the plaid suit. That famous plaid suit! That was important. He was opening for Quicksilver Messenger Service, and there were all of these white kids who didn’t know who B was when they got there, but they knew who he was when they left. And Otis Rush – that just impacted my soul. I knew I needed more of this when I heard Otis.”

Things came full circle for Magness when she was given the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award in 2009 – becoming the second female to be given that honor.

“It is a permanent moment for me. Almost hallucinogenic,” she says tearfully. “It was transcendent to even be nominated. But to have B.B. King standing there with Bonnie Raitt calling my name. I was standing there in 2009 and had 1971 come right back to me.”

Curtis Salgado is another non-Mississippian who embodies the spirit of the Jackson music scene. He has won several accolades in the Soul-Blues genre at the Blues Music Awards. While he is grateful, he is a bit wary of the title “soul-blues.”

“Categories are created in order to give the listener or buyer an idea of what the music is. Technically blues is a 12 bar form depending on the arrangement. Soul is the blues with a gospel feel and chords added to it. I don’t like the limitations,” he explains. “Categories can sometimes put the artist in a box. I think Hank Williams is a soul singer as much as Ray Charles or Sam Cooke. So should he be put in a SoulCountry category? What defines music is in the ears of the listener. If someone sings or plays a song - any type of song - and it hits your heart and you believe it - that is soul. That is the blues.”

Salgado spent time playing with Robert Cray and Carlos Santana before becoming a solo artist. He was inspiration behind John Belushi’s creation of the Blues Brothers characters.

“You might say I took [Belushi] to blues school,” he says. “He asked me one day what he could do in return. I told him to give credit where credit is due, and he did. Not only did he and Dan Akroyd dedicate the “Briefcase Full Of Blues” album to me, but gave credit to all the artists whose songs they played and covered. He was a class act and a brilliant talent.”

READLEGENDS.COM

• 17

The genres are sought worldwide, and Thomas hopes the Festival will catch its share of international tourists again this year.

“We had people come from as far as Australia last year,” Thomas says. “We want to build up as much international tourism as we can for Jackson. I want to expose people to artists they haven’t heard or seen before. You can’t say you don’t like what you’ve never heard. We always derive from the blues, but we stretch out and try to make new fans for the artists we book.” L OTHER ARTISTS INCLUDE: • Bob Marley’s oldest son, Ziggy Marley, who has won multiple Grammy awards including Best Reggae Album and Best Musical Album for Children.

• R&B act Bell Biv DeVoe, pioneers of the New Jack Swing style of the 1990s, a fusion of hip-hop, funk and pop.

• Chrisette Michele, who won a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for “Be OK” and has been featured on songs by Jay-Z, Nas and Ghostface Killah.

• Jackson Mississippi native Dorothy Moore, who had huge R&B hits with covers of the country standards “Misty Blue” and “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

• Denise LaSalle, another Mississippi native, who found great success as both a singer and songwriter of deep South soul music. She is a member of the Blues Hall of Fame. Her hits include, “Trapped By A Thing Called Love,” “Now Run And Tell That” and “Man Sized Job.” Her composition “Married, But Not to Each Other” was an R&B hit for her as well as a country hit for Barbara Mandrell.

• Camden, Mississippi’s John Primer has played with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before starting a solo career. He has been nominated for several Grammy Awards and Blues Music Awards.

• Jackson’s Legendary House Rockers were featured in the popular The Last of the Mississippi Jukes alongside Morgan Freeman and Chris Thomas King, which has been in regular Starz syndication since its release in 2003. The original documentary, created by filmmaker Robert Mugge, features a full-length film and music CD and is now a collector’s item.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? A complete listing of the acts can be found at www.jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com and tickets are available online and at all TicketMaster outlets. A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Mississippi Blues Commission Blues Musicians Benevolent Fund.

18 • JUNE // JULY 2014

 Clockwise, Dorothy Moore, Boney James, The House Rockers, John Primer and Janiva Magness are a few artists in a impressive and varied lineup for the August festival.

Buy tickets online!

July 25, 26 & 27, 2014 FRIDAY

Tastings Along the River - 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Natchez Convention Center

SATURDAY

Brunch and Blues - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Rolling River Roasters Wine & Cheese Tasting - 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The Castle Restaurant Craft Beer Lecture & Tasting - 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Rolling River Roasters March 7 – August 17, 2014

Brews, Blues, Bocce & Burgers at Bowie’s - 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

An Invitation to the Natchez Table - 7:00 p.m.

The Carriage House at Stanton Hall, Dunleith, Monmouth, Briarvue

SUNDAY

June 14 – August 31, 2014 This Light of Ours is an exhibition organized by the Center for Documentary Expression and Art. Major support for the exhibition has been provided by the Bruce W. Bastian Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Local presentation of this exhibition is made possible through the generous support of AT&T, Jones Walker LLP, Wynne and Bill Seemann, Mississippi Power Company, Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, Leslie Hurst, The ClarionLedger Media Group, and Regions. The Mississippi Museum of Art and its programs are sponsored in part by the city of Jackson. Support is also provided in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Norman Rockwell: Murder in Mississippi has been organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Local presentation of this exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, Stein Mart, Sally and Dick Molpus Foundation, Sanderson Farms, Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, Gilbert Foundation, and Southern Poverty Law Center.

Champagne Jazz Brunch - 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

The Carriage House Restaurant at Stanton Hall

Tickets available online! natchezfoodandwinefest.com

READLEGENDS.COM

• 19

STORY FROM JACKSON, MISS.

THE

GIVING ART Ballet Mississippi takes the stage

BY RILEY MANNING PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARIANNE TODD

T

o watch a troupe of ballerinas warm up is to see a performance in itself.

Twenty or so girls - dancers, actors, athletes all in one - sharpen the movements of their plies and passes in unison, stretching their ankles, knees, hips and backs to the direction of their instructor.

“Now lean back, look as if into the face of someone you love,” she tells them in the cool dark of the auditorium. “Prepare the body as well as the mind to treat this rehearsal as a performance.”

This isn’t taking place in Boston, or New York, or Sweden. It’s happening in Jackson, on the first warm Saturday in April, the day before Ballet Mississippi takes the stage to perform its rendition of the second act of Swan Lake, amid other musical numbers.

“It’s a giving art,” says the instructor, Cherri Barnett, who danced with Mississippi Ballet’s professional company in the 1980s. In addition to her position as associate artistic director with Ballet Mississippi, she serves on the International Ballet Competition’s board of directors.

A giving art. To quite an extent, an art of engagement with the character and the audience. As important as technique, body position and choreography are, they are nothing without the emotion of facial expression, an open door to each dancer.

“Dancers watch the feet, but the audience looks at the girls’ faces,” said Elizabeth Lanoux, a graduate of Ballet Mississippi, who started dancing in the fifth grade. “So they have to convey that emotion. That’s

what ballet is, telling a story without words.”

The feature of Ballet Mississippi’s spring performance is the challenging second act of Swan Lake, the tale of a princess turned into a swan by an malevolent sorcerer. Lanoux said most of the accompanying dancers are seniors at Ballet Mississippi, which trains ballerinas through high school.

“Even if you’re just an understudy, you have to be ready to step into a role at a moment’s notice,” Lanoux said. “A slip, a turned ankle, an illness, can happen just like that.”

 Top: The dancers of Ballet Mississippi take to the stage in Swan Lake. • Tia Garland in a graceful Grande Jete during dress rehearsal for Swan Lake. Clockwise from top, the dancers prepare for dress rehearsal the day before the show; Julia Rester laces up her ballet slippers; Kally Xu and Zoe Barfoot fix their feather headpieces; Xu gets buttoned up; Domenica Tellkamp, left, and Isabella Pittman work on the final touches.

 Most of the accompanying dancers are seniors at Ballet Mississippi, which trains ballerinas through high school. Newcomer Shermel Carthan said it was humbling being chosen for the part of Rothbart, Swan Lake’s dark antagonist. • Adiarys Almelda, a Cuban native, performs the lead role of Odette, the swan princess.

On stage, the girls cover great distances gracefully, and the fine striations in the muscles of their backs actually do seem quite swanlike. They appear to have whips for spines, and their movements are as fluid as mercury.

The lead role of Odette, the swan princess, was filled by Adiarys Almelda, a Cuban native who has danced professionally with the ballet companies in Cincinnatti and Boston.

Almelda first performed in Jackson in 2006, and has returned for one thing or another almost every year since.

22 • JUNE // JULY 2014

“The audience here is so warm. You can tell they really appreciate the ballet,” she said. “To be a swan, it’s crazy work. You have to think how to move as if you didn’t have arms, but wings, and how to portray that visual idea to the audience.”

Rothbart, Swan Lake’s dark antagonist, was played by 26-yearold Shermel Carthan. While Almelda is a seasoned veteran, Carthan is a fast-learning newcomer who came to the art just last September.

“People work their whole lives to perfect Swan Lake, so to get the part of Rothbart after only a few months is so humbling. I’m just a boy from the South, from Tchula, Miss.,” he said.

For Cathan, ballet has been more than a hobby. It’s given him a second chance. The former model and backup dancer spent seven years in Los Angeles, but returned home when he felt his star had burned out. When he met Barnett, he was working as a security guard at the Mississippi Art Museum in Jackson.

“I’d seen them around and wanted to take ballet as a way to stay in shape. But Cherri really took me under her wing,” he said.

“My testimony is one of transformation. This performance is the

 On stage, the girls cover great distances gracefully, and the fine striations in the muscles of their backs actually do seem quite swanlike. They appear to have whips for spines, and their movements are as fluid as mercury.

most important thing in my career, because it has helped removed self-doubt from my mind. Like the Bible says, my mourning has been turned into joyful dancing.”

Ballet Mississippi’s performance of Swan Lake is coupled with numerous non-narrative pieces set to the jazzy music of Cole Porter, a Broadway songwriter prominent during the 1930s. It is choreographed by David Keary, artistic director and mastermind behind the company.

“The Cole Porter numbers are a fun contrast to Swan Lake, which is so classical,” Keary said. “Cole Porter gets overlooked a lot of the time, but he had such a close relationship with his music. As a lyricist, I think he’s better than Gershwin.”

Keary described the ballet scene in Jackson as small, but intimate and active. Ballet Mississippi’s yearly performance of the Nutcracker almost always sells out.

“It’s a community where everyone knows everybody,” he said.

“And even if you don’t know someone, you do, you know?”

Keary boasts an impressive resume himself, and is seasoned in ballet life. He began his training at Mississippi Ballet, then known as Jackson Ballet. In 1975, ballet educator Thalia Mara

bought the company and, in Keary’s words, beat the devil out of everyone. She founded the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson and gained support for the art from city and state leaders.

Keary was the first dancer to turn professional under the direction of Thalia Mara, and attend the School of American Ballet, the official institution of the New York City Ballet. Once his training was complete, he was invited to join the NYC Ballet as a dancer full time, and perform in its wide-running roster of shows.

It wasn’t always glamorous, he said. Dancers made little money, READLEGENDS.COM

• 23

and Keary often found himself wearing the same tired shirt to parties.

But as with any honest performer, it was never about the money.

“Ballet is a sacrifice. It’s dramatic and personal. Dancers don’t do it for themselves, they do it for the audience, to bring the audience into another world,” he said. “In the world of professional theater, you’re trained not to think about tomorrow, but to put everything into the moment right now.”

Sierra Halstead and Katarina Pittman, senior dancers at Ballet MisKatarina Pittman dances with partner William Smith.

“It’s more than just an activity.

It’s discipline and commitment and sweat and blood to expose who we are on the inside.” sissippi who studied under Keary, said he has passed that philosophy to his students.

“The amount of steps you have to memorize alone is pretty amazing.

By the time the show gets close, they have to be second nature. You should be able to hear the music and know exactly where you are in the count,” Halstead said. “It’s more than just an activity. It’s discipline and commitment and sweat and blood to expose who we are on the inside.”

“All that is worth it, though,” Pittman said. “Definitely worth it.” L WANT TO SEE THEM? For more information on Ballet Mississippi camps or show schedules, visit www.balletms.com.

24 • JUNE // JULY 2014

READLEGENDS.COM

• 25

26 • JUNE // JULY 2014

STORY FROM ANGOLA, LA.

• 27

READLEGENDS.COM

P

reston Corkern of Bogalusa, La., is a lifer at Angola.

He broke his shoulder while there. In fact, he’s broken all sorts of bones through the ten years he’s been locked up at the penitentiary once regarded as the meanest place on United States soil.

His fractures weren’t created during fights or in moments of despair but in tiny moments of adrenaline and -- what those on the inside might describe as -- glory.

The shoulder break came from riding a bull in the Angola Prison Rodeo.

“It’s just for bragging rights,” said Corkern, who was delivered to the prison for “ … killing someone for stealing from me.” He won two buckles in the wild horse race. “It was a team event. But I’ve been throw’d off of every bull I’ve ever been on; that’s what broke my shoulder.”

One purpose of the rodeo is to give inmates -- most of whom are lifers -- an outlet to express their toughness, a way to fight for legendary status in ways that are not violent. It’s an attractive incentive for people relegated to gray walls, prison bars and barbed wire.

“For 50 years we’ve had this rodeo,” said Burl Cain, warden of Angola, the largest prison in the U.S. “The rodeo is really helping to correct their behavior, expose them to the public, expose the public to them. All of them aren’t here, because all of them aren’t worthy. But the ones that are, that are really trying to do well, this is a good thing, and a good exposure.”

The event also features 16 acres of goods created by inmates. Known as “hobbycraft,” the rodeo/art event helps inmates with self-control and aids in rehabilitating the small percent who will eventually be released back to society. Cain, who said he manages the institution from a Christian-based perspective, sees it as a win-win for society.

“It’s perfect in supporting the vocational schools and relieving the taxpayers of that burden, to the tune of about $1 million a year,” said Cain, explaining where the proceeds go.

The event is the longest-running prison rodeo in the nation. The spring rodeo takes place over a single weekend, and the fall rodeo is scheduled each weekend in October. Inmates say it is the highlight of their lives. Apparently, these glory days are what keeps them righteous.

Dean Hue of Donaldsonville, La., is three years into a life sentence.

His sentiments echo the consensus among other rodeo and hobbycraft participants.

“It’s a lot for the people and us, for our families, for the spectators, the

contestants,” Hue said. “I mean, it works all the way around the board.

Education for inmates, all of us. The warden did a lot to help us, rehabilitation, all kind of stuff. At the end of the day, it’s wonderful, it really is.”

And there’s the rub. The comments are heartfelt, but give pause to some. Neither Cain’s work, nor the rodeo itself, are without critics.

“Most people think you should lock the convicts up, and you should be really hard on ‘em and really punish ‘em,” explained Cain. “But we can’t correct the deviant behavior by having a punishing type program.

We have to have a rehabilitative type program, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The rehabilitative program is yielding results, at least according to the prison employees and inmates. They claim Cain’s work has dramatically reduced incidences of violence and suicide from behind bars.

“It’s out of character, but it’s the right thing to do, because we want no more victims of violent crime,” Cain said, who admits the process goes against the grain of treating convicted felons with less respect than they afforded their victims.

Sitting in a black and white rodeo costume of exaggerated prison stripes, Hue seemed to express an understanding for what’s being extended to inmates at the “new” Angola.

“I’ve been doing time my whole life, since I’m twelve,” he said, his smile sporting a tattoo of two dark tears. “You know, you gotta hit rock bottom before you learn who you really are, and what you want to do … it’s a disaster, man. Not just for us, but for our families, too. Everybody suffers. The victims, the families, us, everybody.”

He said his family had come to watch him compete in three rodeo activities: Wild cow milking, bulldogging and inmate pinball.

“They bust a cow loose. Three people, two of them gotta hold it, the other gotta milk it. In bulldogging, they let the bulls out the pen, and we gotta flip ‘em over. Pinball, you gotta get in the middle of a hula hoop.

There’s eight of us out there, and they let the bull go. So we gotta stand there and not get hit. You get hit, you lose.”

Hue points to his partner in the bulldogging competition, Matthew Dudley of Baton Rouge.

“Calves are kinda big, it’s kinda hard to try to flip ‘em. But that’s just part of the rodeo,” Dudley said. “It’s exciting, mostly. This will be my fifth time. I just won a buckle in wild horse race.” When he spoke of winning a rodeo buckle, his eyes lit up.

“We try to equip them so they’ll be safe. We put on hats, we put on face masks, mouthpieces, all this body armor. They don’t have to do like a professional cowboy—they can stay on the animal any way they can hold on. They don’t have rules about how you have to hold your hand up and all that stuff. They don’t have to ride but six seconds, instead of eight.

We make it easy on ‘em. Like yesterday, we had hardly any injuries at all. It was great.” - WARDEN BURL CAIN.

28 • JUNE // JULY 2014

 TOP TO BOTTOM: The Angola Prison rodeo draws in excess of 75,000 fans per year; Inmate Michael Wilson sells his burned wooden signs; Rhondalyn Alexander enjoys a carousel ride with her daughter Collins Alexander; Inmate Jerald Jones, left, sells artwork for a fellow inmate to customer Amanda Oldani.

All their eyes light up.

John Easley, the institution’s program certification director, said the brief moments in the ring -- if only a few seconds on a bull or bucking bronc – are regarded as life achievements for many inmates, some of whom are experiencing audience cheers for the first time. The six-second ride -- or five second, or four -- may be the best thing they’ve ever done. It is an act that can make or break a prison culture.

Douglas Smith of Slidell, La., has been at Angola for five years. Minutes before his first bull ride – the first to leave the chute – he clutched his face mask in preparation.

“I had a rough life. I like to play hard, so it’s a kind of bucket list type thing, I guess.

I bungee jumped, cliff-dived and I’m ready to ride a bull. I’ve been around horses, I’ve never rode a bull or a bronc, but I’m pretty good on horse. This is all new to me.”

Smith said he participated the day before in Guts and Glory, the most famous of the rodeo events. In this free-for-all, all rodeo inmates get in the ring together with a bull and try to snatch a chit -- a token -- tied between its horns.

“I was the first one it run over,” Smith said. “I gotta tell ya, when he looks you in the eye and he puts you on beam, it’s a whole different ballgame than saying ‘I’m gonna do this’ or ‘I’m gonna do that’ when you’ve got 2,000 pounds coming at ya.”

Cain said part of the fun is that the inmates have no training, and the crowd knows it.

“We try to equip them so they’ll be safe,” he said. “We put on hats, we put on face masks, mouthpieces, all this body armor. They don’t have to do like a professional cowREADLEGENDS.COM

• 29

 ABOVE: A bull throws inmate Jonathan Rosalie into the air during the Guts & Glory competition.  A young cowboy watches the action; Inmate Marlon Brown comes face to face with a charging bull during the Guts & Glory competition.

Inmates try to pull a poker chip from the forehead of a bull for $500.

Brown won the first of two Guts & Glory competitions on the second day of the rodeo.

boy -- they can stay on the animal any way they can hold on. They don’t have rules about how you have to hold your hand up and all that stuff.

They don’t have to ride but six seconds, instead of eight. We make it easy on ‘em. Like yesterday, we had hardly any injuries at all. It was great.”

Because of Corken’s shoulder injury, he opted to help with pulling chutes and handling cattle.

“As for having money in the penitentiary, this is what funds our entire economy. It makes living in here so much better … it gives you a reason to stay out of trouble,” Corkern said.

Bull riders can make more than $125. In the behind-bars-economy, that’s serious dough.

Other inmates steering clear of trouble are artists, many of whom develop a passion for their work. They set up booths, similar to an ordi-

30 • JUNE // JULY 2014

nary craft show. The difference? Visitors negotiate the sale of a painting, a wooden box, or a leather wallet with an armed robber or murderer.

This is the appeal for visitors, which Cain estimates at more than 72,000 per year, all of whom are taking a peek into a foreign world.

Chester Schneider of Biloxi, Miss., has been painting for about three years. At the spring rodeo, he sold paintings of tigers’ eyes, along with framed turkey feathers featuring detailed scenes. He said he’s completed 12 years of a life sentence as a habitual offender – for four non-violent felonies. He explained how hobbycraft fits into his schedule.

“I teach school, I’m a mentor,” said Schneider, an automotive repair instructor under the direction of Easley. “We work there from seven in the morning ‘til three in the afternoon. We go in for count, and after count is cleared at four-thirty or five, I’m allowed to go to the hobby

Mid 20th Century to Contemporary Jewelry • Art • Pottery • Glass • Metal arts American mid 20th century jewelry by Henry Steig (cuff), Art Smith (pin), Jack Nutting (ring)

415 Main Street, Natchez, Mississippi 39120 601-304-9684 • 228-424-7274 www.mschon.com marbeth1@aol.com

TU

TU TU TU

BRODEUR GALLERY & STUDIO

6’ 8” x 32 “ Oil on board

Kevin L. Brodeur

Breakfast until 2 p.m. ◆ Lunch until 4 p.m. ◆ Free Wi-Fi ◆ Book Exchange ◆ Art & Photography ◆

Homemade Soups, Sandwiches, Cakes, Muffins, Coffee & Teas, Fruit Smoothies and much more!

509 Franklin Street ~ Natchez, Mississippi ~ (601) 304-1415

Southern Landscape Artist Mississippi River Series | Louisiana Cotton Series

Also offering design, upholstery, drapery, and refinishing services.

107 North Commerce Street | Natchez, Mississippi (508) 579-3571 | Kevin Miers Brodeur

READLEGENDS.COM

• 31

 Inmates attempt to bull-dog a cow.  Inmates try to hold on to their horse during the Bareback Riding event.

shop ‘til midnight. On the weekend I can stay there all day and all night if I want.”

Each prisoner purchases his own supplies, and proceeds from sales are credited to the inmate’s account -- minus a 20% fee that goes to the prison -- to be used later for purchases from prison-approved vendors.

Cain explains how the system creates a mini-economy behind prison walls.

“Their off time, they’ll spend it on arts and crafts and so forth. But guess what? They’re not out there causing violence, or trying to fight, carry on and carouse and be bad,” he said. “Then they’re gonna spend their money back in the prison, and they’re gonna buy blue jeans with it, they’re gonna buy their food to eat, and stuff like that, which costs us less dollars to clothe them and to feed them.”

Four years ago, Cain built a program to expand inmate skill-building, mentor-ship and culture change into a partnership with Orleans Parish, where prisoners on short-term sentences are sent to serve their time at Angola. They’re placed into Easley’s re-entry program, where they’re mentored by inmates such as Chester Schneider, the turkey feather painter. Or by John Sheehan of Avoyelles Parish, who has been locked up for 28 years for second-degree murder. Sheehan is unique among the inmates in his level of responsibility: He runs the automotive school.

Sheehan said of the inmates being mentored, 85% become ASE certified

32 • JUNE // JULY 2014

for automotive excellence.

It is difficult to understand why inmates such as Sheehan -- or the ones who make the art, or who ride the bulls, or who teach -- care to participate in a system that brings them no closer to being free.

“We’re trying to make a difference from inside of the prison to change the culture on the outside, in the streets,” he said, standing near his handcrafted belts in the hobbycraft area. “Who has more power to persuade someone to do right? The guard, or someone that’s his peer?

“I wake up every day hoping there’s something I can teach that can change these young men’s lives. When they go out and do right, I’ve done something that makes me proud.”

And in that, Sheehan rests. For him, the lives he touches through the re-entry program are as vital as the self-esteem riders achieve in the rodeo arena. The 300 men who have become ASE certified under his watch may just be his version of rodeo buckles, his version of six seconds on a bucking bronc – with 10,000 people cheering. L WANT TO GO? The Angola Prison Rodeo is held each weekend in October and one weekend in the spring. For more information, visit www.angolarodeo.com.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 33

 The Weeping Angel in Columbus’ Friendship Cemetery is the most photographed lady in the city.

34 • JUNE // JULY 2014

Rosedale

Pilgrimage draws thousands of visitors to Columbus’ charming downtown each spring, and among the favored stops is the tender Weeping Angel in Friendship Cemetery. A candlelight stop brings visitors face to face with well-researched and authentically costumed students from the nearby Mississippi University for Women, standing by the graves of the lives they re-create.

Behind its gates lie thousands of people who shaped the direction of a city, a state and a nation. The cemetery dates to 1849, and although two sections of the cemetery were set aside for the burial of Confederate soldiers, casualties from the Battle of Shiloh were so numerous that the cemetery now holds the remains from both sides of the war.

Also buried there are veterans from the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish American War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. It has been called “Where Flowers Healed a Nation,” because in 1866, a group of women decorated the soldiers’ graves there with flowers, creating the country’s first Memorial Day.

For additional information on tours and attractions, phone (662) 328-2569.

 Whitehall READLEGENDS.COM

• 35

Amid the dogwoods and azaleas rises the impressive and statuesque past of Columbus. Its landscape, even within walking distance of its colorful quaint downtown, is punctuated by relics so well built that time has hardly blemished their rare features.

Rosedale is one of the finest examples of Italianate architecture in Mississippi. The home was restored recently to its original 1856 state with original paint colors and wallpaper patters. The third floor view offers a stunning scene of what life may have been like 158 years ago with its sprawling acreage and charming barn. The house is also home to the nation’s largest furniture collection by American craftsman John Henry Belter.

Nearby Whitehall (c. 1843) is a pillared mansion built near the street, although the property extends over a city block. It includes gardens, stables and servants quarters. During the Civil War, it served as a hospital for Confederate soldiers. And further down the street, Rosewood Manor (c. 1835) reigns over 4.5 acres of landscaped lawn which includes three thousand boxwoods. Like many homes in Columbus, it was built on a hill because low places were considered unhealthy. Rosewood Manor was built for a Yankee bride who would not occupy it; she said its vapors were unhealthy and returned north.

For a listing of available homes and tours, visit www.visitcolumbusms.org.

36 • JUNE // JULY 2014

 Costumed ladies decorate the Columbus Pilgrimage landscape at Rosewood (top), Whitehall (center) and Rosewood Manor (bottom right).

No one comes to Clarksdale looking for the ordinary, and it’s a good thing. That’s what makes us special–there’s a surprise around every corner–whether it’s one of many Mississippi Blues Trail markers, frequent festivals, great southern food or unique shopping opportunities.

We’re the perfect starting point to venture in all directions looking for the real deal: north to Friars Point and Muddy Waters’ homesite at Stovall; south toward Hopson Planting Company’s commissary; and right in the middle you’ll be at Ground Zero of the blues world, both literally and figuratively. Come for a fabulous meal, an interesting stroll downtown to see our galleries and museums, or take a canoe trip down the Mississippi River. Whatever you choose, make a deal with yourself to have a really great time here.

Coahoma County Tourism P. O. Box 160 • Clarksdale, MS 662.627.7337 or 800.626.3764 visitclarksdale.com READLEGENDS.COM

• 37

Murder in Mississippi

By Julian Rankin

R

ockwellian. An adjective dripping with connotations of idyllic Americana; multi-generational Christmas tables and Pop Warner football coin tosses against fair weather skies.

As an artist, Norman Rockwell will most assuredly be remembered for his hundreds of illustrated Saturday Evening Post magazine covers that, while pleasing and technically astonishing, were hardly ever risqué or controversial. But Rockwell was not, himself, so stripped of nuance. Neither did he lack awareness of the volatility of the mid-century American social landscape. One artwork in particular, titled “Murder in Mississippi,” illustrates a shift for Rockwell in the 1960s when he turned his gaze away from the sentimental to immortalize on canvas subjects that not all viewers were eager to see.

Published in Look Magazine in June of 1965, “Murder in Mississippi” recorded the events of the previous year when three Civil Rights workers, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were murdered in Philadelphia by a Klansmen posse, their bodies disposed of in an earthen dam.

From June 14 through August 31, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer, this canvas will be on view along with photographs and preparatory materials at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. The artwork and

38 • JUNE // JULY 2014

ancillary documentation are provided on loan from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

Rockwell’s sharp departure from the charming to the challenging did not happen in a vacuum. In 1963, Rockwell’s final cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post appeared.

With a new management staff at the magazine and shifting editorial priorities, Rockwell took the opportunity to step aside from his position as illustrator for the Post, opening the door to new ventures and new subject matter. Rockwell recalled, later, that the Saturday Evening Post had once had him remove a black person from a group photo because of their policy of only depicting African Americans in service industry positions.

Leading up to his break with the Post, Rockwell struggled with the decision to leave, as evidenced by excerpts from his notes published in American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Solomon. “Isn’t this the answer – if necessary, die doing something worthwhile,” he wrote. “A worthy end … not humiliating fear and groveling. Have I got the sustaining courage to cut it through?”

Rockwell’s own personal tensions parallel the ethos of the activism happening all around him. In another note to himself, on the subject of doing a portrait commemorating the Peace Corps, Rockwell echoed the sentiment of necessary

STORY FROM JACKSON, MISS.

Norman Rockwell beside his painting of “Murder in Mississippi.”

The artist best known for his Saturday Evening Post illustrations took a departure from his norm to aid in social change.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 39

courage, “ … Youthful dedication. Something bigger than yourself … ” color study and a final painting. He received word on April 29, 1965 that His first illustration for Look Magazine in 1964 was of a 6-year-old Look had decided to publish his rougher, preliminary rendering, presumAfrican-American girl, Ruby Bridges, integrating a New Orleans school ably because it was more raw and compelling. A few years later, the artist escorted by United States marshals. The iconic image provides a clear reflected on the editor’s decision and his mindset, saying that by the time demarcation from his reputation at the Saturday Evening Post. It still the final painting was completed, “all of the anger that was in the sketch looks like a Rockwell painting but is unmistakably weighted with his has gone out of it.” own social considerations. “Murder in Mississippi” is even starker in its “Once Rockwell had been a symbol of the establishment,” writes Solopposition to the cheery, white washed notion of the American golden omon in her Rockwell biography, “a man who had helped define the opage. It is dark, brooding and timistic mid-twentieth century. haunted.

Now he wondered what was Rockwell began work on wrong with the Establishment “Murder in Mississippi” in ear…. He wondered what kind of ly 1965. Even before the assigncountry could be complicit for ment, he had been collecting so long in the systematic wickpress clippings from the southedness of racial segregation.” ern Civil Rights Movement.

During a visit to Los Angeles He was aware of the gravity in 1965, Rockwell, perhaps inof the milieu, as cataloged in advertently, alluded to the popAmerican Chronicles: The Art ulist lyrics of Bob Dylan and of Norman Rockwell, published the tumult of the 1960s when by the Norman Rockwell Muhe told a reporter, “Times are seum. In creating the painting, changing now, and people are Rockwell’s process was not just getting angry. I’m beginning to to envision, but to inhabit. His get angry too.” L notes reveal detailed descriptions not only of the three WANT TO GO? men’s characteristics, clothing The Mississippi Museum of and location of their gunshot Art is located at 380 South Lawounds, but also of the Mismar St., Jackson. Admission sissippi summer itself; “100 to Norman Rockwell: Murder degrees,” “long after dark,” “red in Mississippi is $10 adults, $8 clay,” swamps,” “rattlesnakes.” seniors, $5 students, free for During studio sessions with children five and under and models (one of which was his “Once Rockwell had been a symbol of the establishment, a man who had helped define for Museum members, and inson, Jarvis) Rockwell experi- the optimistic mid-twentieth century. Now he wondered what was wrong with the cludes admission to This Light establishment… He wondered what kind of country could be complicit for so long in the mented with poses and pos- systematic wickedness of racial segregation.” - Deborah Solomon. of Ours: Activist Photographers tures. He settled on a compoof the Civil Rights Movement. sition that shows Andrew Goodman splayed out on the ground with Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, noon – 5 p.m.

Michael Schwerner facing his captors while holding up a wounded and Author Deborah Solomon is scheduled to lecture at the Mississippi collapsing James Chaney. The pose of Schwerner and Chaney was in- Museum of Art on Sunday, June 22, at 3 p.m. about Rockwell and his spired by a 1962 photograph by Hector Rondon, “Aid from the Padre,” portrayal of the fight for civil rights in America. Solomon served as the in which a priest holds up a soldier during the Venezuelan rebellion. chief art critic of The Wall Street Journal and has written extensively Rockwell’s thoughtfulness and dedication to authenticity is unquestion- about American painting. She is the author of several biographies of able. He even insisted on procuring human blood with which to soak a American artists, including Jackson Pollock and Joseph Cornell. shirt, meant to represent that of Michael Schwerner. Rockwell wore it Both American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell and American himself during the posing.

Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell are available for purchase in Ultimately, Rockwell provided Look with two versions of the image: a The Museum Store at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

40 • JUNE // JULY 2014

STORY FROM NEW ORLEANS, LA.

The real drama of alligator harvesting in southern Louisiana

By Chris Staudinger

Photography by Chuck Cook READLEGENDS.COM

• 41

 Captain Brandon Cavalier speaks to his guests about wetlands conservation and flood control during a stop in the marsh. Tourists crowd the side of the boat to get a photo of a wild alligator in Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. • Up close and personal with a gator in the Louisiana marsh.

t the helm of the Swamp Queen II, Capt. Joe Hatty needed to set the record straight about Cajun culture.

“You’re hoping that you’re gonna see men walking around waist deep in swamp water, carrying an alligator on one shoulder, maybe a snake wrapped around his neck, with his wife sitting on his other shoulder, and they’re towing the children behind in their little flat boat, because that’s how Hollywood has portrayed us.” He said it over the microphone to the 30 visitors who had come for a swamp tour near the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve just south of New Orleans. When the pontoon idled past an idyllic cabin overhanging the water, he told them it has been several generations since his family has lived like that, in the swamps, hanging clothes out to dry, swatting mosquitoes. The visitors jumped to the rails to snap a picture of a place where swamp people did not live. It was a movie set, nothing more than a façade.

When Hatty talked about the natural

42 • JUNE // JULY 2014

world, the group was decidedly less interested.

He pointed out primordial palmettos that natives and early settlers overlapped on their roofs for shingles. The palmettos drop beady black seeds that have been used for prostate treatments. He said the Spanish moss, once collected for furniture stuffing, feeds itself not from the trees it hangs on but from nutrients in the air. But when someone spotted a five foot alligator sunning itself near the boat, everyone ran to the rails with their cameras again.

A lot of people go to the swamp looking for Cajun dancers, and a few go for the cypress, but most come to see the alligator: the lion of the South. It is the closest that humans can get to a dinosaur. Big teeth, big appetite, thick skin, long claws and slits for eyes. They lay eggs and eat Siberian Huskeys. They eat their babies. They prowl the swamp and the American imagination, and for all of Hollywood’s attempts to fantasize southern Louisiana as the home of the backwoods halfwit, the alligator remains a much truer source of its mystery,

and they deserve every bit of fame they’ve mustered.

The skin of the reptile alone is covered in seventy or eighty different landscapes of folds, jags, spikes, scales, bumps and knobs that armor the body and allow the animal to soak up sunlight and energize its cold-blooded body.

The animals can live as long as humans and grow as long as station wagons. Last year, Drew Baker caught a 13.9 foot, 1,100 pound alligator in Little River County, Ark., the biggest on record in that state. The near-mythological record for Louisiana, caught in 1890 in Marsh Island, supposedly measured 19 feet and weighed 2,000 pounds.

“These bigger ones are slowly coming out of their tunnels and dens,” Hatty said as the boat approached an 11-foot gator on the bank.

The biggest in the area, he said, is a 14-footer named “Big Joe” (no relation) that “wins” every year. That winning is the ideal scenario in a ruthless mating ritual in which dominant males fight for a territory of about two square

 Tourists enjoy an airboat tour of the Bayou Barataria Swamp, south of New Orleans.

miles. He saw a fight between a 15-foot gator and a 12-footer that lasted about 15 minutes.

“And the winner,” he said, “lost his leg. It was completely torn off.” The loser was killed dead.

After the fight, the dominant male will begin his bellow, and the mating dance begins.

“He’ll raise his head and his tail,” Hatty said, “And he just builds up a grunt. He’s shaking his body so hard that … the water looks like raindrops are hitting it.”

Even Ernest Herndon, a longtime outdoor writer of Louisiana and Mississippi waterways, said the bellow is startling, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. The ground shakes.”

Florida alligator researcher Kent Vliet, PhD, describes a complex and mysterious courtship ritual between the gators involving “vocalizations, head-slapping on the water’s surface, body posturing, snout and back rubbing, bubble blowing and pheromone (scent) signals.”

But even weirder is what happens next, when the female lays 30 to 40 eggs, and landowners, biologists and egg hunters raid the alligator nests and remove the eggs using helicopters and airboats. It’s a well organized and highly regulated operation that spans all of

south Louisiana. And its supporters say that it’s saving the alligator population.

Golden Eggs The Continental Alligator Wallet by Burberry lists for $1,695.00. The Orchard Handbag, in alligator, also by Burberry, lists for $25,000.00. And one of Burberry’s full length, alligator leather trench coats will run $115,000.00.

A single alligator egg, collected from the wild, fetches $17.50.

That’s according to Brandon Cavalier. He’s part of a complex web of “farmers, egg ranchers, trappers, landowners, buyers, dealers, (and) scientists” that the State of Louisiana uses to manage the alligator as “a commercial, renewable natural resource.”

Cavalier helps with an “egg ranching” program by navigating the tiny bayous of Louisiana’s coastal marshes to collect alligator eggs from the wild. He says that once the locations of the vegetation nests are flagged (usually with the help of helicopters), a team goes in by airboat with the help of biologists to delicately remove the eggs. “That’s an adrenaline rush,” he

said, “You pull up on the side of that nest, and the big female comes out of there chompin’ at the boat, giving you hell, and you gotta get the babies out of there. I like it.”

Since the late ‘80s, egg ranching has kept the state’s 55 alligator farms well-supplied. The farms produce the majority of the meat and the skins that go to market, immensely more than the wild hunting seen on television (and equally as interesting). The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which runs the state’s elaborate Alligator Management Program, reported that the farm-raised harvest totaled more than $67 million last year. The wild harvest, by contrast, brought in about $11.5 million.

When farm owners tried to replicate the strange mating rituals of the beasts in captivity, things got expensive and a little messy. Ruth Elsey, biologist manager at LDWF’s Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, wrote that, among other problems with stress and nutrition, dominant males were difficult to keep in captivity with their social hierarchy. Farms, she said, “need frequent repairs to pens (and) fences” because of “escapes and burrowing,” and adult gators present special problems. “Captive alligators READLEGENDS.COM

• 43

sometimes nest, but egg fertility and hatch rates are much lower than eggs ranched from the wild.”

The Alligator Program keeps a steady, if not increasing, population of wild alligators in Louisiana while allowing almost 300,000 animals to be harvested each year. Since so many alligator eggs are collected from the wild, the state requires farms to return a percentage of juvenile alligators to spots where eggs were collected. It might even work out that

“The animals can live as long as humans and grow as long as station wagons. Last year, Drew Baker caught a 13.9 foot, 1,100 pound alligator in Little River County, Ark., the biggest on record in that state. The near-mythological record for Louisiana, caught in 1890 in Marsh Island, supposedly measured 19 feet and weighed 2,000 pounds.” more animals survive through the Program, since so few alligator eggs typically make it to maturity in the wild. Brandon Cavalier says that eggs in the wild have “about a ten percent chance of making it when they hatch. ‘Cause when they’re so small, everything eats them: fish, birds, all that stuff.”

Nearly one million alligators have been returned to the wild as a part of the Program. Elsey says that the progress of released gators are monitored over time. “We have had recaptures over 20 years after release, and at sizes of up to 12 feet, 6 inches,” she said. “Most importantly our coastal nest count (population index) has remained stable or increasing.”

A coast at odds

 Guests watch as guide Captain Brandon Cavalier feeds a piece of chicken to a gator on the bank of the marsh.

44 • JUNE // JULY 2014

When he was discussing the lives of modern day Cajuns, Hatty emphasized that they live a regular, American lifestyle.

“We live on solid dry ground,” he said.

While that’s undoubtedly true, it’s also true that modern day Cajuns and their south Louisiana neighbors, more often than not, are surrounded by water. And they’re strikingly close to the creatures that live in those waters, as well. (Both

Capt. Joe and Brandon Cavalier know what alligator teeth feel like when they clamp down on an arm.)

In a lot of ways, Louisiana has learned to deal well with the water. The swamp tour industry is a multi-million dollar, educational venture that supports employees and guides who want to maintain a life near the water and supplement an increasingly difficult life of crabbing, trawling and commercial fishing.

And observers have called LDWF’s Alligator Management Program one of the most successful conservation initiatives in the country because in the 1950’s the American alligator was in danger of extinction. In 1962, in a bold act of ecological protection, Louisiana ended all alligator harvesting in its waters. Five years later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed the state’s lead and classified the reptile as an endangered species, which allowed alligator numbers to slowly climb.

Elsey says that LDWF’s model has been used for management of crocodilian species as far away as Argentina and the Northern Territory of Austalia.

But there was one threat listed by LDWF as a danger to the thriving alligator population, and it is a monstrous one.

Scientists have labeled coastal Louisiana “the fastest disappearing land mass on the planet” – foreboding not only for the alligators but also for the humans who live nearby. “Because the vast majority of Louisiana’s alligators are in the coastal parishes, saltwater intrusion and wetlands/marsh deterioration from numerous causes are very real threats,” LDWF writes in its report.

The agency hopes the sustainable management of the alligator will encourage Louisianans to push for coastal restoration. “Landowners are offered incentives to not only conserve wetlands but also enhance them, so as to increase alligator populations,” they write.

Increasing that population will benefit their human neighbors, as well, and, if a $50 billion, 50-year, coastal restoration plan works, they can go on living side by side. One in the water, the other on solid dry ground. L

 Top: It’s picture-taking, alligator-feeding time in the marsh.

Middle and bottom: Julie and Ian Hart of Wales, United Kingdom, take a picture of a young alligator held by Cavalier while Caitlyn McGrath of Long Island, New York, braves holding her own alligator.

WANT TO GO? Joe Hatty and Brandon Cavalier, with Jean Lafitte Swamp Tours and Airboat Tours, give tours year-round. It’s a 25 mile drive from New Orleans across the Mississippi River.

For more information, please visit www.jeanlafitteswamptour.com. The Honey Island Swamp Tour in Slidell, near the Mississippi Gulf Coast, also offers tours year round. Please visit www.honeyislandswamp.com for more information.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 45

Uniquely American River Cruises Classic Elegance and Modern Luxury on a Grand Scale

2014 Summer River Cruise Special

SAVE UP TO $2,000

*

Per Stateroom

American Queen®

Experience Native American, early industrial and Civil War history from the convivial decks of the American Queen on an Ohio or Tennessee River cruise.

Contact your Travel Agent or call (888) 802-5867 View a complete list of our voyages online at www.AQSC.com

*Offer expires May 30, 2014 and is valid on new, paid-in-full bookings only. Full payment at time of booking is required to redeem this offer. Not valid on Group bookings and may not be combined with other offers. Save $2,000 per stateroom ($1,000 pp) on these 2014 American Queen voyage dates: 6/12, 6/27, 7/08, 7/15, 8/01, 8/08, 8/15, 8/22, 8/29 and 9/05. Save $1,000 per stateroom ($500 pp) on these 2014 American Queen voyage dates: 6/20 and 6/23. This offer is not valid on American Queen cabin categories G, H and I. Offer is based on cabin availability and only while inventory lasts. Offer cannot be combined with other promotions or discounts. Fares quoted are in U.S. dollars. Cruise fares do not include taxes, port charges, insurance, gratuities, land transportation or airfare. Additional terms and conditions may apply - call for details.

STORY FROM BILOXI, MISS.

B Y

C H R I S

S T A U D I N G E R

P H O T O G R A P H Y

J A M E S

E D W A R D

B Y

B A T E S

Economists might think gaming is king in south Mississippi, but locals know that the Queens are the real monarchs of the coast.

O

n the bright white deck of the Glenn L. Swetman, Dennis Burke pointed towards the shore, where construction crews were dismantling a jagged concrete structure. The place was once the epicenter of the coast’s seafood industry, where plants processed megacatches of shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico.

Burke’s grandparents migrated from Cajun country in Louisiana to work in the seafood industry on the Mississippi Coast. He grew up near the plants, raised his children not far, and, after Hurricane Katrina, bought a home even closer to where they once were.

The early 1900’s are a hardscrabble portrait of industrial America, in which immigrant families from Eastern Europe and transplants from western Louisiana split tasks to support a burgeoning nation’s seafood consumption. Men spent hot days setting and hauling nets. Women (and, until 1908, their children) worked in canneries and factories along the bay.

Today, the seafood industry still thrives in southern Mississippi, but global forces have lessened its economic role in the city. With its man-made, white-sand beaches (the longest in the world), casinos and gleaming modern museums, much of today’s Biloxi would be unrecognizable to Burke’s grandparents and yesteryear’s seafood workers.

But one thing they would all doubtlessly recognize is the schooner that was sailing us to shore. It’s an exact replica of the ones used a century ago, when thousands of the tri-sailed boats spotted coastal harbors, and “Biloxi, with a population of approximately 8,000, was referred to as ‘The Seafood Capital of the World,’” as Deanne Stephens Nuwer, an historian at the University of Southern Mississippi, writes.

That is the history that the Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry wanted to honor when they created the Biloxi Schooner Project in the 1980’s. They commissioned Bill Holland, a local boat builder, whose mother

48 • JUNE // JULY 2014

 Capt. Brandon Lauer guides his crew aboard the Biloxi Schooner, Mike Sekul, while under sail in the Mississippi Sound in Biloxi.  The Biloxi schooner sails toward the setting sun on the Mississippi Sound.

worked in seafood factories and father captained a schooner, to create an exact replica for the public. Robin David, the museum’s executive director, said that the schooner offered an opportunity to bring a symbol of the region’s history to life.

A strong symbol it is. David said, “The boats were the workhorse of the industry back then,” when Biloxi produced around 11 million pounds of shrimp and oysters every year.

On the boats, that power is evident. The 74-foot ship, with its cypress hull, oak ribs and pine masts, don’t so much carry you, they

fly you. Burke’s son, Sam, has taken multiple trips on the Glenn L. Swetman and its newer sister boat, the Mike Sekul. He understands, by feeling, what the schooner represents. As the sails were hoisted, he yelled out to silence to the 40 people on deck. In a moment, the motor was cut and the boat keeled with the force of the wind, and everything was quiet, he said, smiling, “Feel that?”

It’s a feeling of consummate grace and raw power that you can’t get without a sail. With the Biloxi schooners, you get three.

The museum intended the schooners to

READLEGENDS.COM

• 49

“

On the boats, that power is evident. The 74-foot ship, with its cypress hull, oak ribs and pine masts, don’t so much carry you, they fly you.

“

be a “living history” of the region, and it has worked. People live large – and die large – on the boats. “We have a lot of weddings, family reunions, class reunions and burials (ash-spreading ceremonies) at sea,” Robin said. There’s also Christmas on the Water, 4th of July Fireworks, overnight trips to Horn Island, the Blessing of the Fleet Ceremony, and the Great Biloxi Schooner Race in May. The boats are available for charter, educational

50 • JUNE // JULY 2014

Wendy Buck of Roswell, Ga., snaps a photo of family members Chris, center, and Ben, 4, while sailing. • A crew member raises the sails during an afternoon outing. Biloxi schooner Mike Sekul before a sunset sail. The boats serve walk-on guests, guests with reservations, weddings, family reunions, class reunions and burials.

trips, and walk-on day sails. L Construction of the new Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum is nearing completion.

Its original location in the 1935 Coast Guard Barracks was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Residents are celebrating the sleek new architecture that will house the region’s history and offer grand views of Biloxi Bay and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. New research and photos

will accompany exhibitions. A public grand opening is scheduled for July.

WANT TO GO? For group or individual leisure tours, or for information on summer camps, classes in shrimping, model boat building, crabbing or field trips, or for a schedule or walk-on dates, please visit www.maritimemuseum.org.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 51

STORY FROM THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

— From haute cuisine to the chicken wing —

MISSISSIPPI’S BEST FESTS

By Chris Staudinger

Mississippi’s festival season is in full swing. There are festivals for winos and festivals for artists. One celebrates “haute cuisine,” another, the chicken wing. No doubt, there is something for everyone. We’ve picked a handful of festivals, big and small, old and new, sanctified and otherwise, and given you the run down.

Mississippi is known for its soul. This is the season when it all hangs out. So let it. Step out. Throw your babies in a wagon and pump them full of sugar. Grab yourself a drink and let the sun and the music wash you over.

MAY:

NATCHEZ FESTIVAL OF MUSIC All throughout May. All throughout Natchez. Prices vary.

It is a little-known secret that the woman who holds the record for the longest standing ovation at the Metropolitan Opera (42 minutes!) is a native Mississippian and a civil rights icon. And a fabulous festival in western Mississippi will pay tribute to her this May. Each spring, Natchez transforms from a quiet town on the river to a Mecca of the arts. Every weekend, for all four weeks in May, the town hosts operas, works of theater, concerts, dinners and the like, featuring performers from across the country, auditioned in New York and Natchez and served in grand Southern fashion.

Check out the Festival’s Tribute to Leontyne Price, one of the first African American women to rise to opera stardom, and check out the rest of the lineup for this fine little secret this May.

JIMMIE RODGERS FESTIVAL May 15-17. Singing Brakeman Park. Meridian.

Daily Tickets: $10-$25. Weekend pass: $30 The three-day festival is a well-rounded one, honoring Meridian’s biggest star, the Father of Country Music. It begins with a two-show gospel night on Thursday, ‘80s night on Friday – and a lot of country on Saturday. CMT Award winners Sawyer Brown headlines the Saturday lineup. They follow country music up and comer Frankie Ballard, whose new album, “Sunshine and Whiskey,” is making waves with a No. 1 Billboard single.

The 61-year-old festival is scheduled in Downtown Meridian. Betty Lou Jones of the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, says highlights are Saturday’s Country Music Symposium, Sunday’s car show and parade, and the crawfish throughout the weekend. “We’re having barbeque, lots of beer and lots of good food and drinks,” she says.

B.B. KING HOMECOMING FESTIVAL – THE FINAL HOMECOMING May 25. B.B. King Museum. Indianola. Free.

As if almost saying goodbye to a longtime friend, this year’s homecoming will mark the final for King, who will give his last homecoming performance in Indianola. The festival celebrates the return of Riley B. King each year to his Mississippi hometown for a dose of the blues that only King can provide. Joining him on this year’s lineup is King Edward, Lil’ Ray Neal, Grady Champion, Southern Halo, David Dunavent and Evol Love and the Jason Fratesi Band.

For more information, contact Robert Terrell at (662) 887-9539.

52 • JUNE // JULY 2014

JUNE:

TUPELO ELVIS FESTIVAL June 5-8. Downtown Tupelo, BancorpSouth Arena.

In 1976, Elvis Presley snuck into a dark corner of the Levee Lounge in Memphis to watch a man who was impersonating Elvis Presley. That’s how real the world of Elvis tribute artists gets.

The Elvis Fest in Elvis’ own hometown is getting even realer. Its tribute competition has been moved to Tupelo’s BancorpSouth Arena, which will allow the audience to quadruple. “We’ve already sold more (tickets) than we ever have,” says Jessica Reed Hollinger of the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association. She says the festival “is a preliminary competition to the Ultimate Elvis Competition that happens in Memphis later this year,” and the transformations of the Elvi are breathtaking.

There’s another side of the festival as well, which features country stars on outdoor stages, food and carnival rides. This year’s musical lineups include Memphis Jones, Cody Slaughter, Sonny Burgess and the Pacers, Brandon Bennett and Bill Cherry, Victor Trevino and Jay Dupuis.

FESTIVAL SOUTH, FROM BLUEGRASS TO BROADWAY June 7-21. All over Hattiesburg. Free and ticketed.

In its fifth season, FestivalSouth is Mississippi’s only multi-week, multi-genre arts festival.

Presented by the Hattiesburg Concert Association, the festival offers events from across the spectrum of the arts – music, dance, art and theater. Musical offerings include classical, blues, jazz, gospel and Broadway and ongoing art and sculpture exhibits are a huge draw. The festival’s Arts Market is a gathering of craftsmen, artisans and tourists. FestivalSouth is complemented by classical and modern ballet and food from eateries all over town. This year’s lineup is headlined by country music’s Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives, who this year will perform at the Saenger Theater. Another highlight is Mac McAnally and members of the Coral Reefer Band, performing June 14, also at the Saenger. For more information, visit www.festivalsouth.org.

JULY:

THE 27TH ANNUAL SLUGBURGER FESTIVAL & 3RD ANNUAL MLE WORLD SLUGBURGER EATING COMPETITION July 10-12. CARE Garden. Corinth. Admission TBA In the tallest reaches of Mississippi, almost to Tennessee, a burger is made that is only adequately described by the sound of its name. Slugburgers, according to the festival’s website, “are not made from the terrestrial gastropod mollusk of the same name.” They’re an old Corinth tradition, “a mixture of beef and some form of cheaper breading extender which is then deep-fat fried to a golden brown.” The burgers used to be extended with cornmeal and fried in lard. Though they’ve gone a bit mainstream with soy meal and veggie oil, they still pack their punch (or slug).

The festival celebrates the burger and the town that made it, with music, a carnival and a Slugburger eating competition on Saturday at four.

“If you are particularly sensitive to fried food or if you over-indulge in slugburgers, you may feel as if someone slugged you in the stomach and some residents believe this is the origin of the term slugburger.”

NATCHEZ FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL July 25-27. Downtown Natchez. Prices vary.

“Haute cuisine. Fine wines. Craft beer” sums it up fairly well. The festival hosts an array of events throughout the weekend that indulge in the finer elements of food and beverage culture. Past years have featured workshops in knife skills, craft beer lectures and a style lesson with acclaimed florist John Grady Burns.

Chefs from across the nation fly in to curate dinners in five antebellum mansions, serving groups of 30 to 60. Tickets for that event go fast. “ We are thrilled that Chef John Folse, a leading authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture, will serve a historic luncheon based on cities along the Mississippi River,” says Carol Ann Riley, who helps host the events.

For more information, contact Rene Adams (601) 442-4895.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 53

AUGUST:

SUNFLOWER RIVER BLUES AND GOSPEL FESTIVAL August 8-10. Downtown Clarksdale. Free John Ruskey has been organizing the acoustic stage for Sunflower Fest for about ten years now. People, (usually panting and mopping their reddened faces) sometimes ask him, “Why would anybody in their right mind organize a festival when it is so hot?” He says to them, “You can’t feel the blues until you hear them outside, in the summertime, in the Delta.”

The festival has a characteristically strong lineup of blues on Thursday through Saturday and gospel on Sunday. Saturday night is headlined with a two-hour reunion set by the Big Jack Johnson Blues Band. Johnson passed away in 2011. The festival’s chairman said: “Our 27th annual celebration honors the legacy of Big Jack Johnson, the city’s most extraordinary musician/songwriter since the legendary days of Robert Johnson, Charley Patton and Muddy Waters.”

As always, the festival is free to the public, which organizers call “a salute to the area’s cultural heritage as the birthplace of blues.”

HOWLIN’ WOLF MEMORIAL BLUES FESTIVAL & PRAIRIE ARTS FESTIVAL August 29-30. Mary Holmes College. West Point. 6 p.m. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 door.

Arts fest: Free.

“We’re a little different,” says Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society Executive Director Richard Ramsey. The festival is a quick, sharp punch compared to the four-day blues extravaganzas across the state. But with George Porter Jr. and the Runnin’ Pardners headlining, and the barbeque smoking, the night will be memorable.

Porter Jr., the former Meters member, brings the funk to the blues festival. “It all comes from the same place,” says Ramsey. Also on the lineup is Carolyn Wonderland, the Texas blues singer and songwriter who has appeared on Austin City Limits and won numerous awards for her style, which combines hints of surf rock, zydeco and soul.

Spend the next day checking out more than 600 booths of “fine arts, crafts, down home Southern cooking, four stages of live music, classic cars, Kidsville” and more at the Prairie Arts Festival, one of the largest gatherings of fine artists in the South.

SEPTEMBER:

WING DANG DOODLE FESTIVAL Last weekend in September (usually). Gaddis Park, Forest. Free.

Forest County, Mississippi, is proud to be the nation’s fifth largest poultry producer in the United States of America. Every year in late September, they celebrate the feat by honoring the funkiest piece of the chicken’s anatomy: the wing. There’s a $1,000 grand prize competition for the greatest grilled, smoked or fried chicken wing. And it all goes down with the blues, a la Koko Taylor, whose smash hit, unmatched by any song in American music, is inspiration for this celebration.

“Tell butcher knife Totin’ Annie, tell fast-talking Fanny

We gonna pitch a ball, a down to that union hall

We gonna romp and tromp ‘til midnight

We gonna fuss and fight ‘til daylight

We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long

All night long.”

OCTOBER:

DELTA HOT TAMALE FESTIVAL October 16-18. Downtown Greenville. Some free events, some ticketed.

A real newcomer on the Mississippi festival circuit, the Tamale Festival is coming in hot. With help from native daughter and food writer Julia Reed, national audiences have been smitten by the story of the hot tamale and the Delta town that has proclaimed itself The Hot Tamale Capital of the World.

It’s only the festival’s third year, but Betty Lynn Cameron, executive director of Main Street Greenville, says, “We had 10,000 there last year. People say they’ve never seen

54 • JUNE // JULY 2014

a festival that’s only two years old that looks like it’s 20 years old.”

There’s a “Literary/Culinary Mashup” on Friday featuring a symposium where visitors can get an “up close visit with some of the celebrity chefs and writers who are coming into town,” Cameron says. Past participants are James Beard winner John Currence, NPR’s Roy Blount and Susan Puckett, author of the new book, “Eat Drink Delta.”

More than 100 judges come from across the country. Cameron says they “bring in their repertoire of information, intellect and mode of expression,” which makes the judging a spectacle of its own.

And, as always, there is music. Lots of blues music. Last year’s lineup featured the best of the Delta bluesmen (Kingfish, Leo ‘Bud’ Welch, and Bill Abel), as well as Greenville’s own Eden Brent, who has been making some waves of her own in the roots music world.

GREAT MISSISSIPPI RIVER BALLOON RACE October 17-19. Natchez, Miss., and Vidalia, La. Tickets: $5-$20. $30 weekend pass. Discounted Kids’ tickets. Kids under 6 free.

Every October for the past 29 years, Natchez is lit up with balloons, balloon aficionados, balloon pilots and people who have never before seen a hot air balloon. “We’re the last sanctioned balloon race of the season,” says Cammie Dale, secretary of the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race. “These pilots come from all over the country. And they really like to come to Natchez.”

There are different balloon competitions, bean bag drops, races and tethered balloon rides.

On Friday night, in a spectacular scene, pilots gather their balloons on either side of the river and light them up like lanterns for the “glow.”

Then there’s an entire music festival built around the races throughout the weekend.

The event is notorious for getting some of the best music in the Mississippi festival circuit.

NOVEMBER:

SOULÉ LIVE STEAM FESTIVAL October 31-November 1. Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum. Meridian. $3. Maximum $15/family.

Modern society was built on the steam engine, and the folks at the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum thought that it deserved a festival, too.

The two-day celebration is in an old hotbed, so to speak, of Southern steam engine production. The museum sits in the old Soulé Steam Feed Works building, where thousands of engines were once built for places across the world. George Soulé was a general mechanical whiz who changed the American sawmill industry.

Greg Hatcher says thousands of people come to “honor that past” and be wowed by the absolute power of some of the museum’s mind-bending machines that whir and pump in live demonstrations. Some people bring their own machines as well. “Owners of steam engines, hit and miss engines, and other mechanical marvels show off their favorite ‘toys,’” says the festival’s website. It’s the only festival like it in the Southeast.

PETER ANDERSON ARTS AND CRAFTS FESTIVAL November 1-2. Downtown Ocean Springs. 9 to 5 p.m.

An homage to the artistic ethos of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Peter Anderson Arts and Crafts Festival enters its 39th year. Its organizers say, “This award winning, long standing arts festival attracts nearly 400 vendors from around the continent that display everything from the finest pottery, paintings, jewelry, and sculptures to woodwork, metal work and handmade tile pieces.”

The festival is held in honor of master potter, Peter Anderson, who is one link in a long chain of extraordinary artists who have called the coast home and who have been influenced by the birds and the beaches of the Gulf’s barrier islands. He and his brother, painter and potter Walter Ingles Anderson, would sail their boat, Gypsy, to the Fish River in Alabama to collect fresh, local clay for their creations.

The open air event, which features music and food tents, is also surrounded by Ocean Spring’s local restaurants, boutiques, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art and Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center for Arts Education.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 55

STORY FROM OCEAN SPRINGS, MISS.

56 • JUNE // JULY 2014

PHOENICIA From the Sea to the Sound

BY KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES EDWARD BATES AND MARIANNE TODD

} IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, PHOENICIA WAS A PLACE OWNED BY THE SEA. SORT OF LIKE THE MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST. For Phoenicia it was the Mediterranean, the waters that lapped at the shores of Byblos, Tyre and Sidon. The people of this region were seafarers, masters of navigating the crests and troughs of a life-giving treasure of the ancient world.

Today, the region is known as Lebanon. Although Lebanese culture and that of the Mississippi coast are separated by a distance and culture, the seaside town of Ocean Springs may not be so different from coastal settlements of old. Just a few steps away from downtown Ocean Springs, the waters of the sound suck back and forth at Mississippi’s southern shores. As one of the seafood and shipbuilding capitals of the United States, a shared common heritage makes the coast not so unlike communities of the Mediterranean that still hear calls of ships from bedroom windows.  Breakfasts at Phoenicia range from a variety of eggs Benedict to crepes and pancakes with fruit topping.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 57

Guests who arrive early enough can enjoy crab cakes Bendict, crepes with fruit topping, or for brunch or lunch enjoy chicken sharwarma, chicken kebob or fish. All entrees are served with rice and fresh vegetables.

Issam Sabagh’s livelihood reminds us of these connections shared by coastal peoples across the world. There’s the bounty of life from the sea, and a cuisine influenced by the day’s catch. There’s the always-present threat of the water’s encroach. There’s the wind. There’s a salt in the air.

Sabagh came to the United States from Lebanon in 1969. He attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. Since then, he’s opened restaurants in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and other points south.

Sixteen years ago, Sabagh came to Ocean Springs to visit a friend and said he “fell in love” with the community and with its people. Shortly after, he opened Phoenicia Gourmet Restaurant, the only restaurant he still owns.

The restaurant -- widely recognized by its room of charcoal gray walls that look like they have been through centuries -- is a vibrant point of action in the walkable downtown of this quirky arts center in Jackson County. Everybody in town knows of it. In fact, most everyone on the coast knows of it.

The cultures of Lebanon and the Gulf Coast come together in a menu of Mediterranean dishes and … pancakes?

“Those pancake recipes are a family recipe for over 50 years,” Sabagh said. “We do everything from scratch.” Diners can gorge on pancakes with pecans, blueberries, strawberries or other additions. They can

58 • JUNE // JULY 2014

drown in the sweet goodness of a waffle topped with shredded coconut or bacon. The can enjoy the succulent layers of crepes topped with fruit or syrup.

Another breakfast specialty is the omelette. Order it served with the basics, such as cheese or mushrooms, or opt instead for rich, uncommon additions such as crawfish, crabmeat, feta cheese or artichoke bottoms.

There’s also eggs Benedict and eggs sardou.

Other American or Southern fare on the menu includes steaks, salads, seafood gumbo, blackened shrimp, crab cakes, red snapper and a collection of desserts that reflect the cuisines of both the Mediterranean and the American South: baklava, raspberry creme brulee, creme caramel and tiramisu.

Southerners have easily adopted to the Mediterranean flavors.

“They love the quality, they love the food,” Sabagh said. “There are some people who say every time they come here [to Ocean Springs], they have to stop by.”

It’s no wonder. In an artisan downtown laden with restaurants, few offer the huge palate-pleasing variety or freshness found on Sabagh’s menu. It runs the gamut from simple and familiar to items that are a bit more exotic, at least to the average south Mississippi diner accustomed to the local standards of BBQ or shrimp po-boys. Here, patrons can extend

Sixteen years ago, Sabagh came to Ocean Springs to visit a friend and said he “fell in love” with the community and with its people.

Shortly after, he opened Phoenicia Gourmet Restaurant … the dining repertoire by trying chicken or beef sharwarma, sambousek (meat pies), falafel, leg of lamb or Baba Ghanuj (eggplant dip).

There’s something for every appetite. For first time diners, Sabagh suggests chicken sharwarma and crab cakes.

Step through the doors, and feel transported to an ancient time, draped in something almost mystical. Use a bit of imagination, and it feels like entering the inner sanctum of a temple of food.

“After the hurricane [Katrina], we lost a roof and remodeled the place,” said Sabagh, who designed and implemented the decor scheme himself. “We did it all ourselves.”

He did accept a little help from a friend’s parents, a couple from Lebanon who helped him incorporate the great cultural contribution of Phoenicia -- the alphabet -- into the restaurant’s “east meets west” style decor.

A black, white and gold color scheme is accented with bursts of cobalt blue in the glassware, which imparts a distinctly Mediterranean feel.

The tablecloths and napkins are fabric, and the lighting is appropriate

for either an intimate dinner or a family gathering. Woodwork features reliefs of Ionic columns, and art echoes the Phoenician past. A baby grand piano sits in the corner, and on the right day, a lounge-style player provides the musical backdrop that makes this affordable restaurant feel like a place of luxury.

And in somewhere amid the music, the bustling Ocean Springs sidewalks and the deliciousness of the food, the spirit of the Phoenician ancestors and of the sea is alive and well in the town that Issam Sabagh has come to love. L WANT TO GO? Phoenicia Gourmet Restaurant is located at 1223 Government St., Ocean Springs. Hours are Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.phoeniciagourmet.com or phone (228) 875-0603.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 59

STORY FROM THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Angela Lewis, the daughter of James Earl Chaney, kneels by his Meridian gravesite. Lewis never knew her father, who was killed in Philadelphia in 1964 along with Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in a case that came to be known as Mississippi Burning.

60 • JUNE // JULY 2014

A HEAVY PRICE TO PAY RECOLLECTIONS OF SUMMER ‘64

By Joe Lee Photography by Marianne Todd

W

illiam Winter, who served as governor of Mississippi from 1980-1984, was already entrenched in state politics by the summer of 1964. He was state treasurer when civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were murdered in Neshoba County, and though many people point to the deaths (and the James Meredith admission to Ole Miss) as the pushback toward segregation, Winter had known for Former Gov. William Winter more than a decade segregation wouldn’t last – and those who favored it would fight hard to keep it.

“I had experience serving in integrated units in the Army,” said Winter, a native of Grenada who graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law. “When I got back from World War II, I knew change was coming. I knew Mississippi was not going to be an island of racial segregation in the United States. Anyone who was objective could see that it could not be sustained permanently.

“That feeling was increased as Harry Truman issued his Civil Rights Manifesto in 1947. Then there was the Brown v. Board of Education (U.S. Supreme Court) decision in 1954, which really threw the fat into the fire. From there, the lines were drawn, and massive resistance became the watchword in the South. The Citizens Council organized in 1956 in response to the Brown decision. It was a period of intense emotion and unreason that led to the long, hot summer of 1964.”

Winter, now 91, grew up on a cotton farm. His family had black tenants and white ones, and the future governor swam and played with kids of both races. Education opportunities were vastly different then.

“When we started school, they had to go to a six-grade school, and I went to a good school,” he said. “I knew in my childhood that they were not getting a fair shot. The attitude was, ‘The blacks don’t need to be educated. We need a work force to produce agricultural products, and if we give them too much education, they won’t be satisfied to be laborers.’ That was a commonly-held attitude.

READLEGENDS.COM

• 61

 Left to right, Rita Schwerner Bender, the widow of Michael Schwerner, takes a moment of silence in honor of her slain husband; Barbara Chaney Daily remembers her brother, James Chaney, who was killed with Schwerner and whose bodies were buried in an earthen dam in Philadelphia, Miss.

“I think the overwhelming majority of white people – most white people, not just lower-income whites – had developed a sincerely-held attitude that life would be unlivable if blacks were permitted to vote in great numbers and were making policy for the state. I think there was a great fear that we could not live in that relationship.”

Winter looks back on the Meredith admission to Ole Miss (in 1962) and the Civil Rights Act (in 1964) as critical turning points in the often bloody battle to eradicate racial segregation as a way of life in our state.

“I think I had enough sense to know that we could have a good bi-racial society,” he said.

“But not enough people believed that to support candidates who believed it. So we were locked into leadership personified by Ross Barnett and others who pledged not to give an inch. There were serious proposals supported by otherwise reasonable white folks to close the University of Mississippi instead of letting one black man in.

“The Citizens Council (organized in Mississippi in 1956 as a response to the Brown decision) advocated that. Even members of the boards of trustees at the universities advocated that. That fanaticism was based on ignorance and fear and prejudice, I guess. After the Meredith fiasco, the business community started coming around and recognized that Mississippi had to change. But even the business community was intimidated by the Citizens Council – and the Citizens Council was made up of bank presidents and members of big organizations.”

The Heidelberg Hotel, located a couple of streets from the Jones Walker law firm where Winter still practices today, was torn down several years before he was elected governor. Back in 1964, though, it was a

place where African-Americans registered to vote for the first time after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. “Whites accepted it. There was moaning and groaning, but they understood the time had come to make the change,” Winter said. “I told Myrlie Evers at a luncheon we had for her (while I was governor) that we white folks owed her and her husband – and others like them – as much as black folks because they freed us, too. We were all prisoners of an indefensible system.”

The segregationists didn’t give up after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Winter ran for governor in 1967 and was called a “moderate” on segregation by hard-liners who said he wanted to compromise with civil rights advocates. He was defeated by John Bell Williams, who served from 1968-1972. Winter would be elected governor just more than a decade later, and by then positive steps had been taken in state government.

“The position was this: ‘If we white folks will just stick together, there’s no power in America that can change the status quo, and the federal government does not have the power to overturn segregation,’” Winter said. “Most white people believed that, or professed to. That’s what created so much trouble for the state. Ross Barnett said there would always be segregation in Mississippi as long as he was governor, and people believed him.

“After the Williams administration, the Bill Waller administration brought blacks into state government. The end of the Citizens Council, I think, came when the Sovereignty Commission – an official arm of the Citizens Council – was denied funding by Governor Waller and was forced to close.”

Winter, who unsuccessfully ran for Thad Cochran’s U.S. Senate seat

“I told Myrlie Evers at a luncheon we had for her (while I was governor) that we white folks owed her and her husband – and others like them – as much as black folks because they freed us, too.

We were all prisoners of an indefensible system.”

– Former Mississippi governor William Winter

62 • JUNE // JULY 2014

 Left to right, Ben Chaney escorts his mother, Fannie Chaney, from a Phildadelphia courthouse in 2005 after testifying on behalf of her slain son. Fannie Chaney has since died; Schwerner Bender embraces Barbara Chaney Daily at a memorial during a yearly gathering of Freedom Riders. Chaney, Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were shot and killed in 1964 while going to investigate a church burning in Philadelphia. They had been in Meridian in an effort to register black voters.

after finishing his term as governor, was a member of President Bill Clinton’s Advisory Board on Race in 1997 and 1998. The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at Ole Miss is named in his honor, as is the William F. Winter Professorship in the Department of History. In 2008, he was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

“It is so unfortunate we had to go through all the bloodshed and anger to get where we are now. We were our own worst enemies,” he said. “The future of our state lies in our ability to work together and come together

and use the talents that almost everybody has to make life better for more of our people. Most of the old haters have died off. At one time they were really calling the shots for our state. The Ku Klux Klan had real power then. It is now a lunatic fringe.

“But today I see whites and blacks associating on an equal basis, with respect for each other, and with an understanding that we are all members of the same race – the human race.” L

Freedom Summer 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STANCE THAT CHANGED A NATION

By Joe Lee Photography by Marianne Todd

O

ur state has come a long way from the horror of June 1964, when civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman were murdered in Neshoba County. This year marks the 50th anniversary of what many refer to as Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the month of June will feature a widespread coming together around the state with conferences, speakers and exhibits.

“Fifty years ago there came, from many quarters of our nation, a youthful diversity of ethnicities, opinions, lifestyles and persuasions, a cadre of risk-takers committed to lifting the last burden from the shoulders of the world’s last oppressed woman and man,” said Cynthia Palmer, executive director of the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Move-

ment. “Our coming together was more than idealism that has since been celebrated as the Mississippi Summer of 1964.

“While countless pundits and chroniclers have vertically described, discussed and even extolled the seasonal events of that year, this is the rare occasion, some 50 years later, for a horizontal view of those who survived to tell the story — its origins, frustrations, triumphs and its aspirations as well as hope.”

Tougaloo College in Jackson is scheduled to host the Mississippi Freedom Riders Conference June 24 through 29 and will feature a variety of speakers from across Mississippi and around the country. A reception and program honoring the Medical Committee for Human Rights at the READLEGENDS.COM

• 63

 Freedom Riders gather in Philadelphia, Miss., as they do each year to honor the lives of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner.  Right, a reminder of Mississippi’s ugly past, a 1967 ad in The Commercial Appeal advises against voting for Winter, who advocated for equality in voting rights.

Jackson Convention Center on June 25, and a Freedom Summer Legacy banquet at the convention center on June 28 are on the schedule. On June 29, a praise and memorial service will be held at Woodworth Chapel on the Tougaloo campus. Visit www.freedom50.org for a complete list of events that week at Tougaloo.

“My hope for the Jackson meeting is that young people learn this important part of our history and learn how much they can extend it in the present day,” said Julian Bond, a former Georgia congressman and executive director of the NAACP. “I would love to see young people from across the country say, ‘I’m going to spend some time this summer registering voters and ensuring they turn out on election day so our democracy can be made more whole.’”

During the month of June, an exhibit called “Black Mississippi: Road to the Vote” will be on display at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson.

The Mississippi Museum of Art will feature the Norman Rockwell exhibit, “Murder in Mississippi” from June 14 – August 31, and “Stand Up: Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964” will be on display at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History from June 2 – October 31.

Presented by the Center for Black Studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, the Freedom Summer 1964-2014 Conference will take place June 19-21 and feature addresses by civil rights historians and veterans of Freedom Summer 1964 at the Thad Cochran Center on campus.

There will be a guided tour of the Freedom Summer Trail and a Unity Day service project as well as workshops about the civil rights movement for teachers. For more information on Freedom Summer activities

at USM, email summer64hattiesburg@gmail.com.

“The Freedom Summer conference will not just commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ‘Mississippi Summer Project,’ but it will also honor the sacrifices of local citizens who participated in the civil rights movement,” said Dr. Sherita Johnson, Director of the Center for Black Studies at USM. “We want attendees to learn about the unsung heroes of the movement and the rich cultural history of Hattiesburg and the surrounding area.”

“In the summer of 1964, hundreds of summer volunteers from across America convened in Mississippi to put an end to the system of rigid segregation,” Palmer said. “The civil rights workers and the summer volunteers successfully challenged the denial by the State of Mississippi to keep blacks from voting, getting a decent education, and holding elected offices.

“As a result of the Freedom Summer of 1964, some of the barriers to voting have been eliminated and Mississippi has close to 1,000 black state and local elected officials. In fact, Mississippi has more black elected officials than any other state in the union. While the Freedom Summer of 1964 made profound changes in the State of Mississippi and the country, much remains to be accomplished.”

“There is no reason that there cannot be a repetition of Freedom Summer not only in Mississippi,” Bond said, “but in all the states of the union.” L

BILOXI

• June 12.............................. 4th Annual Tailgate Palooza 7 to 9 p.m., Hard Rock Casino. Proceeds benefit Special Olympics of Mississippi.

Contact Susan at (228) 374-7625 for tickets.

CLARKSDALE

• July 17................................ “Gone but Not Forgotten” Exhibit Opening at The Delta Blues Museum – photography by Billy Johnson.

COLUMBUS

• June 21.............................. Music with Melvin Mordecai & Corn Shucking Contest starting at 9 a.m. Main Street Columbus, (662) 328-6305.

GREENVILLE

• July 4................................... Fireworks at Lake Ferguson Levee Front. For more information: (800) 467-3582.

GULFPORT

• July 3 – 6........................... 66th Annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo. Contact Richie Valdez, (228) 863-2713.

HATTIESBURG

• June 7 – 21...................... Festival South’s 5th season of a city-wide, multi-genre arts festival. For more information call (601) 296-7475 or visit www.festivalsouth.org.

• June 19 – 21................... The Freedom Summer 1964-2014 Conference at USM. For information email: summer64hattiesburg@gmail.com JACKSON

• June 2 – Oct. 31........... “Stand Up!” Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 Exhibit. For more information call (601) 576-6850 or www.visitjackson.com.

• July 24................................ Downtown Jazz at the Mississippi Museum of Art from 7 to 9 p.m. Enjoy live music in the presence of amazing art.

For further information, call (866) VIEWART or www.msmuseumart.org.

MEMPHIS

• June 7................................. Moon River Festival at Levitt Shell. For ticket information contact (888) 512-7469 or visit www.moonriverfestival.com for tickets and lineup.

• Food Truck Fridays every Friday May 3 – Sept. 30 at Dixon Gallery & Gardens. For information contact (901) 761-5250 or visit www.memphistravel.com.

MERIDIAN

• June 26.............................. ARTinis at the Museum, Meridian Museum of Art. For information contact the museum at (601) 693-1501.

• July 26................................ Tony Bennett, MSU Riley Center. Contact information (601) 696-2200 or visit www.msurileycenter.com.

NATCHEZ

• July 25 – 27..................... Natchez Food and Wine Festival. For more information contact Rene’ Adams at (601) 442-4895 or visit www.natchezfoodandwinefest.com.

NEW ORLEANS

• June 14 – 15................... Cajun & Zydeco Festival at Louis Armstrong Park, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. both days, free admission. Visit www.jazzandheritage.org.

• July 12................................ San Fermin in Nueva Orleans (Running of the Bullls). For more information visit www.nolabulls.com.

OCEAN SPRINGS

• June 7................................. 9th Annual Red, White & Blueberry Festival from 10 a.m. to 2p.m. Downtown Ocean Springs, Spectators free.

Contact Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce (228) 875-4424.

OLIVE BRANCH

• Every Friday in June... Rockin’ on the Roost Summer Concert Series 7 to 9 p.m. For more information call (662) 393-0888 or visit www.olivebrancholdtowne.org.

OXFORD

• July 18 – 20..................... 4th Annual Oxford Blues Fest. For more information contact (662) 259-7190 or visit www.oxfordbluesfest.com.

PASCAGOULA

• July 4................................... 4th of July Celebration hosted by the City of Pascagoula. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. and fireworks at 9 p.m.

Location – Beach Park, (228) 938-2356.

TUPELO

• June 5 – 8......................... 2014 Tupelo Elvis Festival. A musical celebration designed to honor Tupelo’s native son, Elvis Presley. For more information contact (662) 847-6598 or visit www.tupeloelvisfestival.com.

VICKSBURG

• June 6 – 7......................... Bill “Howl ‘N’ Madd” Perry in concert at the Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar, Ameristar Casino, 9 p.m. For ticket information (866) 667-3386, www.Ameristar.com.

• July 24................................ The Ritz on the River Concert, Vicksburg Convention Center. Ticket information: (601) 630-2929 or visit www.vicksburgccevents.com.

WATERFORD

• June 27 – 28................... North Miss. Hill Country Picnic. Enjoy music, food, and art. For more information visit www.nmshillcountrypicnic.com.

Time to be swept away, by four seasons of celebrations in the South’s most beautiful historic city. Festivals and fun. Grand and gorgeous historic homes. Birthplace of America’s greatest playwright,Tennessee Williams.

Ghost tours that tingle the spine and touch the imagination. In a recreational paradise, the hunting and fishing are superb, and in a city of legendary artists, the music and magic are never-ending. Shop, dine, savor. Follow your passions, follow your heart, to Columbus, Mississippi!

Year-Round Daily Historic Home Tours • July Southside/ Townsend Park Blues Festival • Crawford Cotton Boll Festival • August Artesia Days • Roast N’ Boast • September Tennessee Williams Tribute • October 7th Avenue Heritage Festival • Caledonia Days • Eudora Welty Writers’ Symposium • October 30-November 1 Decorative Arts & Preservation Forum/Antiques Show & Sale • November 2014 Ghosts & Legends • January 2015 DREAM 365: MLK Celebration APRIL 6-18, 2015 75TH ANNUAL COLUMBUS SPRING PILGRIMAGE

800-920-3533 www.visitcolumbusms.org

Come to Greenville-Washington County to re-boot your energy with a full lineup of revelry to renew your spirit. Authentic Delta blues, food, festivities—dare we say paradise?

Warfield Riverfest benefitting Camp Looking / June 14 Mississippi Delta Dragon Boat Festival / August 8-9 37th Annual Mississippi Delta Blues & Heritage Festival / September 20 4th Annual Sam Chatmon Blues Festival, Hollandale / September 27 2nd Annual Mighty Mississippi Music Festival / October 3-5 3rd Annual Delta Hot Tamale Festival / October 16-18 4th Annual “Jim Henson” Frog Fest, Leland / October 25

Convention & Visitors Bureau

www.visitgreenville.org 1-800-467-3582

AUGUST 15,16 — MS AGRICULTURE & FORESTRY MUSEUM — LAKELAND DRIVE — JACKSON, MS WHEN jackson’s jumpin’

with this

Where to find me!

IIV V B B L L L L E E B B E

E O O V V E E D D E

Y GY Z ZIIGG G L E Y EY

L ES R R A A M MN E Y J A M O R E

BO

OTH

Y

MO

BAND S S A TH BR SARD REBIR OUS R B C MAR DOR

SH Y RU B LE B SAL BO A L ISE O DEN

D ALGA S S S I T ES CUR AGN M A JANIV ADE JAMZ EM HOM

Tickets available at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge-by-phone 800-745-3000 www.JacksonRhythmandBluesFestival.com

Ticket prices: Friday $25 / Saturday $35 / 2-Day Pass $50

68 • JUNE // JULY 2014

LE LL CHE I E T M S E TE ISET R H ER C WALK

..

OUIS L E LS O J RAW Y N JOHN IMER PR JOHN

1-800-354-7695 JacksonRhythmandBluesFestival.com #jxnrandbfest